Rafe stayed where he was, which took a whole lot more effort than it should have. He felt as if she had cut him open and laid him bare for everyone to see. She’d managed to reduce the sum of him and his wants to a mockable list. How had she guessed? He’d always been told he was tough to read. Was he showing his cards, or did she have some kind of insight? Even his mother hadn’t been able to guess all of that.
“You don’t approve.”
“I don’t have an opinion,” she told him. “I guess the part I don’t understand is wanting to spend your life with someone you’re not in love with.”
“Love is an illusion.”
“You’re wrong about that. Love is very real and it’s dangerous. People do crazy things in the name of love. Bad things. Love is powerful and shouldn’t be played with. So, when do you get to meet the first of your candidates?”
“In a couple of days.”
Heidi glanced at him. “She’s coming to Fool’s Gold? For a date?”
He shrugged. “I tried to put Nina off, but she said it wasn’t a problem.”
“That’s because you’re quite the catch, Rafe.”
She wasn’t exactly laughing, but he saw the humor in her eyes. When they’d first met, he’d been in control of everything going on around him. Somehow that had shifted. He felt as if he were walking on floating logs, and in danger of slipping and falling. It wasn’t a sensation he enjoyed.
“Will we get to meet her?” she asked.
“No.”
With that he stalked out of the goat house and headed back for the kitchen. He had a fence line to finish and a company to run. As for Heidi, he’d been wrong to think he’d offended her by kissing her. She was a lot less fragile than he’d thought. In fact, she was a formidable opponent. He was done playing nice. After all, he was in Fool’s Gold for only one reason, and that was to win.
* * *
HEIDI CARRIED THE MILK into the kitchen. She’d already seen Rafe heading out to work, so she knew she was safe. Thank goodness. She wasn’t sure she could stomach another encounter with him today. The last one had nearly done her in.
Everything about their relationship was unfair. How tall he was, how sexy, the way his smile made her feel weak in the knees. And that had been with her sitting down. Imagine if she’d been standing.
It was the kiss, she thought, as she poured the milk into containers and then put them in the second refrigerator in the mudroom. The way he’d touched her and made her feel. Now she knew the possibilities, and she couldn’t make herself forget them. While he was busy looking for his perfect wife, she was left wanting more kisses followed by long, languid nights in his bed.
She had a feeling she’d guessed right about the kind of woman he was looking for. Coming up with the list had been easy. She’d simply imagined everything she wasn’t.
She told herself it didn’t matter. That when she and Glen won their case, May and Rafe would return to San Francisco. She would forget all about this interruption of her regularly scheduled life, and all would be well.
She poured herself a cup of coffee and walked through to the living room. She’d barely swallowed her first sip when she was brought to a halt by the sound of soft laughter. Soft, intimate laughter. She heard Glen’s voice coming from his room. Seconds later, May answered. Also in his room.
No, no, no, she thought, freezing in place, like a mouse caught out in the open. Not already. They couldn’t be… She’d warned May, had talked to her grandfather. They were old enough to know better.
She backed into the kitchen and sank into a chair by the table. Now what? If Glen broke May’s heart, then they were in serious trouble. An angry May could have a fair amount of sway with the judge. Heidi was going to have to have a serious talk with him again, and then go look for someone else who would be on her side. Even if that meant having to deal with the one person she most wanted to avoid.
* * *
IT TOOK HEIDI TWENTY-FOUR hours to find the courage to speak with Rafe. He hadn’t come to dinner the previous night. May had mentioned something about him meeting friends in town. Heidi wasn’t sure if she believed that.
Regardless, he’d been gone, so she’d been unable to force herself to talk to him when he finally got home. Now she knew she couldn’t wait much longer. Glen was the kind of man who knew how to seduce a woman. While it wasn’t something she wanted to think about, protecting May was paramount.
She’d heard a couple of big trucks arrive and had assumed they were delivering more supplies for the fence line or barn. But when she stepped outside, what she found instead was a handful of men she didn’t know, her feral cows being herded into corrals and Rafe on a horse.
The sun was high in the bright, clear sky, the temperature still in the fifties. Despite the coolness, she found herself oddly warm as she looked at the man riding Mason.
He had a cowboy hat on his head and a rope in his hands. Worn jeans hugged powerful thighs. His jaw was chiseled, his eyes narrowed. She stumbled to a stop, caught up in the moment. One of the other men yelled something she couldn’t hear. Rafe’s mouth, the mouth she couldn’t stop thinking about, curved into a smile. She knew right then she was in more trouble than she’d realized.
As she watched, he urged Mason forward, then swung the rope in a lazy circle and dropped it around the neck of a cow. Mason sat back on his heels, bringing the cow to a quick stop.
Heidi wasn’t sure who had surprised her more—Rafe or the horse. For a man who looked as good as he did in a suit, he seemed to know his way around the ranch. She supposed the lessons learned as a child weren’t easily forgotten.
She returned to the house, where she made calls and answered emails. For all the danger Rafe presented to her personally, he’d made some great suggestions about her business. She’d already contacted several small stores in San Francisco and Los Angeles about carrying her cheese, and was asking around to see if she could hire a sales rep, at least part-time. With the money the cattle would bring, she could afford to take the risk and still put the majority of the funds aside in her Pay Back May account.
Glen strolled into her small office, close to lunchtime. “They’re nearly done loading cattle,” he said.
“I’m glad to hear it.” She glanced at him. “I thought we had a deal.”
Her grandfather, the person she loved most in the world, didn’t bother looking the least bit chagrined. “Now, Heidi, I’m a grown man. You don’t get to dictate my love life.”
“Isn’t it enough you stole two hundred and fifty thousand dollars from May? Now you’re going to break her heart?”
“Don’t say that. She’s a fine woman. Maybe she’s the one.”
“There’s never been a ‘one’ with you, Glen. I thought
you might slow down as you got older, but you haven’t at all. You slept with your attorney.”
“That was when we first arrived. She wasn’t my attorney then.” He walked over and patted her on the shoulder. “Don’t worry about me. It’ll all work out.”
“I’m not worried about you,” Heidi said, exasperated. “I’m worried about May. And you don’t know that it’s going to work out. If you hurt her, she’ll go to the judge, and we’ll lose everything. Have you thought about that?”
Glen’s humor faded. “Heidi, you can’t dictate love. If there’s anything I’ve taught you, it’s that matters of the heart are unpredictable. May is unexpected. And maybe unexpected is what I’ve needed all along.”
“I agree, but whatever pretty words you put on it, you don’t fall in love. You don’t believe in love. You’ve said it a thousand times. You have fun and then you move on. May’s been a widow for years. She’s not the type to understand. You’re risking our home.”
“I’m not. I promise you that. She gets to me, and I can’t let her go. I don’t want to lose her, Heidi. And I won’t. Trust me. Just trust me, little girl.”
With that, he left.
She watched him leave, knowing he was asking for too much. She loved him, but she didn’t trust him.
She worked a couple more hours, then heard footsteps in the mudroom. She logged off her computer and went into the kitchen. Rafe stood by the sink, drinking water. He’d dropped his hat onto a chair by the table and rolled up his sleeves. Sweat darkened his shirt and dust stained his jeans. He looked like an ad for something manly and vaguely sexy.
He finished the glass, then refilled it from a pitcher he’d pulled out of the refrigerator. As he poured, he glanced at her.
“They’re gone. You can roam your land in peace, without fear of being attacked by feral cattle.”
“Thanks for arranging that.”
“No problem.” He quickly drank the second glass of water, then turned to her. “What?”
“I’m worried about your mother.”
“Because?”
“She’s getting involved with Glen. Trust me, no good will come of that.”
Rafe chuckled. “He’s in his seventies. What’s the worst that could happen?”
“Don’t dismiss him because he’s over sixty-five. Glen has been charming women for decades. They find him irresistible. He’s not into long-term relationships, which means your mom could be hurt.”
The chuckle turned into laughter.
She folded her arms across her chest. “You’re not taking me seriously.”
“I can’t. Glen and my mom?”
“She was in his room. I heard her laughing.”
“She was probably delivering laundry.”
“They were having sex.”
The humor faded. “No way.”
“I’ve talked to Glen, but he won’t listen. You need to talk to your mom. Glen isn’t the kind of guy who settles down. If that’s what she’s expecting, it’s not going to happen.”
“I’m not discussing my mother’s personal life with her.”
“You’d rather deal with her broken heart after the fact?”
“She and Glen aren’t involved.”
“You know this how?”
“I just do.”
She groaned. “So this is what you do. If you don’t like something, you pretend it’s not real?”
“You don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“What about Clay? He’s your brother and you don’t talk about him.”
Rafe’s gaze hardened. “He’s not your business.”
“You act like he’s a criminal. He’s an underwear model. He probably makes more money than you. What’s the big deal?”
“He could have done something with his life.”
“He is.”
“Nothing to be proud of.”
Heidi dropped her hands to her hips. “You’re a prude. You’re embarrassed by what Clay does, so you don’t talk about it.”
“I’m not.”
“You’re embarrassed to talk to your mom, too. Is it sex?”
“I don’t have a problem with sex,” he growled.
“You have a problem with something.”
“Right now, mostly you.” He set down the water and faced her. “I worked my ass off when I was a kid, taking care of my family. I went hungry, did a man’s job, and I was ten years old. So I have the right to say whether or not my brother is wasting his life. The same with my sister.”
That confused her. “I thought she was a dancer.”
“God only knows. She walked away from…” He shook his head. “I’m not talking about her.”
“You’re the one who brought her up.”
She thought about all she’d learned about him and his past. About how hard that time must have been for him. He’d managed to go to college on a scholarship and create a business empire. But how much of that small, frightened, hungry boy remained?
“Just because Clay became a model doesn’t mean he doesn’t appreciate what you did.”
“Don’t try to get inside my head. It won’t happen.”
“I’m saying maybe you need to give him a break.”
“This advice comes from all the experience you have with a big family?”
She raised her chin. “I grew up with plenty of family. Maybe not the traditional kind, but I know exactly what it’s like to live with a lot of people in a small space.” She held up both hands. “Fine. We’ll let the Clay thing go. But please talk to your mother about Glen.”
“No.”
“For a man who was married before, you really don’t know much about women. No wonder you need to use a matchmaker. Fine. Don’t talk to May. But don’t say I didn’t warn you.”
* * *
HEIDI PUSHED HER EMPTY GLASS to the edge of the table. She looked across the room to the bar and waited until Jo looked up. When the bartender raised her eyebrows, Heidi tapped her glass and nodded.
Yes, thank you very much, she would like another margarita and maybe even one after that.
“I’m budgeting a hundred and thirty-five thousand dollars,” Annabelle was saying. “I’m hoping to get it for around eighty or ninety, and have the rest for refurbishing and stocking.”
“A bookmobile?” Charlie asked.
Annabelle nodded. “We have a lot of people in our community who can’t get to the library. The last big fundraiser completed the media center, which is great. Plus, if I could get a couple of laptops and a mobile hotspot, we could take the internet to people who’ve never experienced it before.”