Page 109 of The Honorable Texan
Rey glared back at them belligerently.“What?”he demanded hotly.
Both Leo’s eyebrows went up, along with both hands, palms out.“I didn’t say a word!”
“Neither did I,” Meredith assured him.
Rey looked from one to the other and finally looked down.There, on one of his feet, was a dainty little foot sock with a tassel on it, covering the steel toe of his brown cowboy boot.He’d unknowingly picked it up under Meredith’s bed while he was kissing her.
Rey jerked it off, cursed royally, shot a furious glance at Meredith and his brother, who were trying valiantly not to look at him, and stomped out.
Helpless laughter erupted from the two people left in Meredith’s room, and the sound of it infuriated Rey.
Leo was obviously ready to set up shop with their recently disclosed nurse, and Rey didn’t like it.Leo was the plague of housekeepers everywhere, but he was also easier on the eyes than the other brothers, and he was charming.Rey had never learned how to use charm.He always looked uncomfortable when he smiled.Especially with women like Meredith, who was painfully shy and naive.He wasn’t used to such women.But what made it so much worse was the dropping sensation in his stomach that he’d experienced when he’d stared atMeredith.He hadn’t had anything like that since Carlie, who made his pulse race almost as fast as Meredith did when he kissed her.
He could still taste Meredith on his mouth.She didn’t know much, but she made up for her lack of knowledge with enthusiasm and curiosity.He thought about carrying the lessons much farther, about baring her to the waist.His heart began to slam into his throat as he tried to imagine what she looked like under her blouse.He already knew that the skin of her shoulder was warm and soft, like silk.He remembered her husky moan when he’d kissed her there, the way her fingers had bitten into his back like little sharp pegs.
He’d been away from women for a long time, but he still knew what to do with one, and his imagination was working overtime just now.Meredith had attracted him when she was just his cook.Now that he knew about the intelligent, capable woman underneath the flighty camouflage, he was fascinated with her.She was everything a man could wish for.
Not that she wanted him, oh, no.She’d made it plain.But that teasing speech about marriage had unnerved him.His freedom was like a religion.He didn’t want to get married.Of course he didn’t!
But it was natural to think of Meredith with children.He could picture her baking biscuits for him every morning and holding a child in her arms at night while they watched television.He could picture her playing catch with a little boy out in back, or picking wildflowers with a little girl at her skirts.She was kind and sweet.She’d make a wonderful mother.
There was her job, of course.He knew something about her profession, that it was supposed to be highpressure.She’d be called upon to make life and death decisions, to comfort the sick and grieving, to make herself involved in the daily lives of her patients so that she should counsel them on how to maintain good health.Besides all that, she had a college degree.
Rey was college educated, too, with a degree in management and a minor in marketing.He was the mind behind the business decisions, the coordinator of the labor pool, and the director of marketing for the brothers’ cattle cooperative.He was good at what he did.He enjoyed conversations with other educated people, and he’d convinced himself that Meredith wouldn’t know Degas from Dali, Domingo from Dwight Yoakam, Hemingway from Dr.Seuss.Now he knew better, and his respect for her increased.
She’d saved Billy Joe’s life at the gun club.He recalled that she must have known what to do for Leo as well, when she’d found him after he was mugged.Leo really did owe her his life.She was competent, confident, and she wasn’t hard on the eyes, either.She had wonderful qualities.
But he didn’t want to marry her.He wasn’t sure about Leo.His eyes narrowed as he recalled the way Leo conspired with her.Leo had known all about her already.Obviously they’d been talking together since her arrival at the ranch, because Leo hadn’t been a bit surprised when she rushed over to manage Billy Joe’s heart attack.
Why hadn’t he noticed that?Leo had called for Meredith when he was in the hospital.He was obviously fond of her.Maybe he was interested in her romantically, too.He’d been interested in Tess, before Cag had walked off with her, but Tess hadn’t realized it.Or if she had, she’d ignored it.Leo wasn’t hard on the eyes,either, and when it came to charm, he had his share and Rey’s as well.
As he walked down to the barn to talk to one of his men, Rey had a terrible premonition that Leo had been serious when he joked about being willing to marry Meredith.Would she be desperate enough, lonely enough, frightened enough, to marry Leo and give up her job and living with her father?Her father had beaten her badly.She might be looking for a way out of the torment, and there was Leo, successful and handsome and charming, just ready to take her in and protect her.
Rey felt himself choke on dread.He couldn’t imagine living in a house with Meredith if she was married to his brother.He’d rather throw himself headfirst into a cement mixer!
But, then, Leo had been teasing.Leo was always teasing.Rey forced himself to breathe normally and at least give the appearance of someone who was relaxed.Sure, it was just a joke.He didn’t have to worry about the competition.There wasn’t any.He pulled his hat lower over his eyes and walked on down the aisle to the man who was doctoring a heifer.
* * *
Several days later,Meredith received a huge bouquet of assorted roses from Billy Joe, now out of the hospital and back on the shooting range.She put them in water in the kitchen, along with the card, which the brothers blatantly read.
“He’d marry you,” Rey drawled with pure acid in his tone as he dragged out a chair and sat down to lunch.“He’s been widowed twenty years.”
Meredith gave Leo a mischievous glance and fiddled with putting biscuits in a linen-lined basket.“He’s notbad-looking for a man his age, and it wouldn’t hurt him to have a nurse under his roof.”She glanced at Rey’s eloquent back.“But can he cook?”
Rey sipped coffee noisily.
“And does he slurp his coffee?”she added without missing a beat.
“That was done deliberately, to show you that I don’t give a damn about manners!”Rey growled.
“All right, just don’t expect me to take you to any nice restaurants while we’re courting,” she said easily, setting the basket of biscuits on the table.
“Lady, you aren’t taking me as far as the mailbox,” he said curtly.
He looked ferocious.That black temper was already kindling.Meredith studied his bent head curiously.You never knew about men.She’d seen some very mild-mannered ones come to the emergency room with wives who’d been beaten within an inch of their lives.It didn’t hurt to see how far a man would go when he got mad.Especially after her experience with her father.
“You’ll have to learn to scrape the mud off those enormous boots, too,” she went on in a conversational tone.“And not slurp your soup.Your hair could use a good trim…”
