Summer Days

He kissed her cheek. “I’m sorry I got you into this mess, Heidi. I won’t do anything to make it worse.”

CHAPTER SIX

“DO YOU MIND?” MAY ASKED, her arms full of framed pictures. She paused in the middle of the living room, then turned to Heidi. “I’m intruding. My boys tell me all the time that I get too involved. I’m enthusiastic. Mostly that’s a good thing, right?”

Despite the fact that Heidi was now living in the bedroom next to Rafe’s, and that her grandfather was avoiding her, which meant he was either upset or still determined to seduce May, and that Heidi lacked money in her savings account, she found herself smiling.

“Not enough people are enthusiastic,” she admitted. “I don’t mind you personalizing the house. If you have a sofa or two in your suitcase, I’d love to see them.”

May laughed. “You don’t love the green-and-purple plaid?”

Heidi leaned against the hideous couch that had come with the place. “No. Weird, huh?”

“It was ugly back when we lived here. Now it’s ugly and old. Poor thing.”

She set three pictures on the sofa table. Heidi moved closer. She recognized Rafe at once, even though the photo was from at least a decade ago. He was wearing a black cap and gown, holding a diploma cover that clearly said Harvard. She wasn’t even surprised.

May followed her gaze. “Rafe was on an academic scholarship. There’s no way I could have paid for his books, let alone the tuition. But he worked hard and graduated at the top of his class.” She pointed to the middle frame. The man was handsome, in a rugged way, with an easygoing smile. He was leaning against a horse, one arm on the animal’s neck.

“My middle son, Shane. He raises horses. Breeds them. Mostly Arabians and stock for the rodeo. He’s in Tennessee right now. And this is my baby. Clay.”

Clay had the same dark hair as his brothers, and his features were similar enough to claim the familial relationship, but the similarities ended there. Clay was a whole new level of handsome. The plain navy T-shirt he wore outlined chiseled muscles and broad shoulders. He wasn’t smiling, but Heidi found herself wishing he would. Just a little.

“Wow,” she said, picking up the frame and staring at the picture. “He almost looks familiar.”

May looked uncomfortable and quickly took the picture back. “Rafe doesn’t like me to talk about Clay.”

Why? Was he in prison? Or worse, although she wasn’t sure what would qualify as worse.

“Then we won’t talk about him.” Heidi touched the other woman’s arm. “It’s all right.”

May nodded, her mouth tight with worry.

“Don’t you have a daughter, as well?”

May sorted through the other pictures she held and passed one to Heidi, showing the boys and their sister at the holidays.

Rafe’s baby sister was younger than Heidi had expected. The boys were obviously close in age, but Evangeline had to have been born six or eight years later. She didn’t look anything like the rest of the family, either. Her hair was a honey-blond, her eyes deep green.

“She’s lovely,” Heidi told May. “I notice you don’t have any other pictures of her. Is she…” Heidi paused, wishing she’d thought before speaking. “Did she, um, die?”

“Oh, no. She’s a classically trained dancer. I’ve only seen her perform a few times, but she’s wonderful. Elegant and graceful. I wish…” May drew in a breath. “We’re not close. We don’t speak much these days. Mothers and daughters. You know how that goes.”

As Heidi barely remembered anything about her mother, she couldn’t relate to any kind of mother-daughter relationship, but she nodded, mostly because she realized things in the Stryker household weren’t as they had first seemed. Not quite so perfect.

May quickly put out the rest of the pictures. Heidi saw that, except for the one photo of Evangeline, they were all of the brothers. Complications and questions, but not so many answers.

“We should probably come up with some ground rules,” May told her. “About the kitchen.”

“What did you have in mind?” Heidi asked, not sure what she meant.

“I thought it would be easier if we shared our meals. The four of us. I love to cook, so I don’t mind taking care of fixing dinner.”

Cooking wasn’t one of Heidi’s favorite chores, so she was thrilled to let someone else handle that. But sitting down across from Rafe every night would be difficult. Or tempting, which made the situation problematic.

“I already asked Glen and he said it was fine with him.”

Heidi held in a groan. “You’re welcome to cook anytime you’d like. I hope you’ll let me help. But, about Glen. You need to be careful. He’s a bit of a flirt.”

May blushed and turned away. She busied herself rearranging the pictures on the table. “I’ve heard a few things about him in town. Don’t worry. I won’t be taken in by his charm. It’s just nice to have a man to talk to. My husband died so long ago. I’d nearly forgotten what it was like to have a man around.”

Heidi didn’t know how to press her point without sounding mean, so she hoped her warning would be enough.

“Is there any food you don’t like?” May asked.

“No.”

“Good. Rafe and I will go out tonight, but tomorrow I’ll be cooking. Maybe lasagna.”

“That sounds delicious.” Heidi suspected May’s lasagna didn’t come in a red box from the frozen-food aisle.

The roar of a large truck engine shattered the quiet. May turned toward the sound and clapped her hands together. “They’re here with the supplies. I can’t wait to see everything.”

Heidi followed her out onto the porch. Two trucks from the local lumber supply pulled into the yard, by the barn. From where she stood, she could see fence posts and two-by-fours, roofing material and what looked like a barn door. While the thought of getting the place fixed up was exciting, everything on the trucks represented more money she was probably going to have to pay back if she wanted May gone.

She wanted to complain, to say that until the judge ruled, this was still her house and her land. But she didn’t dare annoy May. The other woman’s generosity was the only reason Glen wasn’t sitting in jail. Right now Heidi couldn’t afford to speak her mind. Just one more thing on the list of what was very expensive these days.

Rafe pulled in behind the trucks. He climbed out of his car, wearing jeans, a plaid shirt and work boots—not exactly the high-powered executive she’d first met in the middle of the road. His jeans fit him well and, yes, his butt was very nice, but her interest was purely intellectual. She could admire a man and still not want to have anything to do with him. The long legs and narrow h*ps were Mother Nature’s way of messing with her head. And maybe her hormones.

Oh, but it had been a very long time since a man had held her.

She’d had a few boyfriends during her teen years, and a serious relationship when she’d turned twenty. Mike had been a “townie” living in the small Arizona city where the carnival had settled for the winter. Heidi had always heard about the dangers of getting involved with locals, but Mike had swept her off her feet and she’d quickly succumbed to his charms. She’d given him her heart and her virginity. But when spring came, he didn’t want to go with the carnival, and she couldn’t leave the only family she had in the world. Although she and Mike had promised to stay in touch, he had eventually stopped calling. She’d heard through a mutual friend that he’d found someone else and was engaged. The following winter, the carnival went somewhere else.

She’d gotten over her broken heart, had enjoyed her life. The men who traveled with the carnival were either too old or too much like brothers for her to consider as romantic partners. Then, just when she’d started thinking it was time to find another way of life, Melinda, her best friend, had fallen in love.

Her relationship had burned hot and ended badly. Melinda, a softhearted young woman who always believed the best about everyone, had been devastated. Depression had followed. Two suicide attempts had shaken the small carnival community. Heidi had been determined to keep her friend alive, no matter what. But Melinda had been more determined to die.

Heidi walked around the back of the house and headed for the refuge that was her goats. Watching Melinda suffer had made Heidi wary of love. Of the price it exacted. Very few of the carnival family were married, and she could only remember a handful of happy couplings. Which made her unclear on the benefits of falling in love. Could that kind of feeling really last, and was it worth the trouble?

As far as how long it had been since she’d found a man in her bed, that was a different sort of problem. One of the downsides of living in Fool’s Gold was that, in a close-knit community like this one, there were no secrets. Going out of town for temporary romance might have been appealing, but she didn’t know where or how to begin. She wasn’t the bar type, and goats weren’t exactly a guy magnet.

Glen always told her to be open to the possibilities. The next time one presented itself, she just might have to say yes.

* * *

HEIDI FINISHED PRINTING the new labels for her cheese and studied the result. The artwork was clean, the colors bright. The only way she knew to make more money was to sell more cheese. But would this new label appeal to consumers?

Glen was downstairs. She could show it to him and get at least one opinion. If only she knew a marketing person, she thought as she walked out of her bedroom and ran into something solid, warm and very male.

Heidi stepped back and looked up, then wished she hadn’t.

Rafe had spent the afternoon unloading lumber and other supplies for the barn and fence line. No doubt he’d worked up a sweat and had therefore wanted to shower before dinner. But none of that explained why he was standing in the middle of the upstairs hall, wearing nothing but a couple of towels and a sexy grin.

His hair was wet and standing in surprisingly appealing little spikes. He hadn’t bothered shaving, so he was a combination of rough and na**d. He smelled like her goat soap. The towel draped around his neck did little to conceal his bare chest, and the one at his waist teased with possibilities.

“What?” she snapped. “You can’t get changed in the bathroom?”

That single damned eyebrow rose.

“Is there a problem?”

“No. And don’t think I’m going to sleep with you, because I’m not. You’re just stubborn enough that it wouldn’t distract you from what you want, and then I would lose twice.”

His mouth curved into a slow grin. “I don’t recall asking you to sleep with me, but if you did, no one would lose.”

Horrified to realize what she’d just said, Heidi turned and raced for the stairs. Laughter followed her down to the first floor, where she bolted outside.

Cool evening air filled her lungs, but it wasn’t enough to ease the burning on her cheeks. Stupid man, she thought. Stupid man who looked really good in a towel. Whoever said life didn’t have a sense of humor was fifteen kinds of wrong.

* * *

“DON’T TELL ME TO SLEEP with Rafe to fix the problem,” Heidi said. Perhaps not the most professional way to begin the conversation with her lawyer, but she wanted to be clear. After last night’s unfortunate verbal spill, she’d been avoiding Rafe and planned to continue to not see him. Perhaps forever.

Trisha shifted the folders in front of her. “You can’t ask me to help you, then tie my hands and expect a miracle.” She chuckled. “Okay. I won’t mention it. I wonder if Rafe would be interested in sleeping with me? I wouldn’t say no to that one, despite the age difference.”

A visual Heidi didn’t want, but at least the concept was a distraction.

“Rafe and May have moved in.”

Trisha winced. “I don’t like the sound of that. Getting them out could be a problem.”

“With what the judge said about us sharing the ranch, I didn’t think I could tell them no. The house is big enough.” She wasn’t going to mention her worries about Glen. As far as she was concerned, there’d already been too much sex talk.

“How’s it working out?” Trisha asked.

“May is lovely. Very sweet and motherly. She cooks.”

“Ask her to come live with me,” Trisha said with a sigh. “I would kill for a home-cooked meal.”

“Tell me about it. But Rafe is complicated.”

“His type always is.”

“I’ve heard more about what happened to May and her kids back when she worked for the previous owner. He was horrible to her.”

“That may be true,” Trisha said. “It shouldn’t have an effect on the judge, but everybody’s human.”

“What do you know about Rafe’s younger brother Clay?”

Trisha leaned back in her chair and sighed. “You don’t know?” She laughed. “You really should.”

“What are you talking about?”

“Have you seen his picture?”

“Sure. May put several out in the living room.”

“Oh, not that kind.” Trisha typed on her laptop, then turned the machine so it faced Heidi.

The photo of a man filled the screen. He was na**d, the shot taken from the back—his butt front and center, so to speak. Trisha reached around and pushed a button. The picture changed to Clay Stryker in extremely tight bikini briefs. Unless he’d been Photoshopped, his, assets were impressive.

Heidi felt her eyes widen as she stared. “He’s a—”