Almost A Bride (Montana Born Brides) (13 page)

“
Thanks. And thanks, Judy, for a great breakfast. Best waffles I’ve had for a long time.”

“
Vanilla essence in the batter,” his mom said with a wink. “Works every time.”

Reid stared at her. His mother was notoriously cagey about her recipes, yet here she was, handing out one of her most closely
guarded secrets without being held at gunpoint.

“
I’ll have to remember that,” Tara said.

“
Reid, I need help in the laundry room, if I can borrow you for a moment,” his mother said. “It will only take a second.”

The look she gave him was loaded with meaning.

“I’ll wait outside,” Tara said diplomatically.

His mother disappeared into the laundry room and Reid took a deep breath and followed her. The moment they were alone, his mother pushed the door closed.

“What are you doing, Reid Dalton?” she hissed the moment it thudded shut. “That poor girl has just had her whole life turned upside down, and all you can think to do is snake-charm her into your bed?”

He flinched away from the vehemence of her words, a little take
n aback by the depth of her feeling.

“
Whoa. You want to calm down there a minute?”
“I know you’ve always had a thing for her, but she is not one of your easy-come, easy-go women, Reid. I’m really disappointed that you’ve allowed your libido to put you in a situation where you’re going to hurt a person who deserves a lot better.”

He was starting to get irritated by all the assumptions his mom was making. Sure, he hadn
’t dated anyone steadily since he came home to Montana, but he wasn’t an alley cat.

“
I didn’t realize you had such a high opinion of my morals,” he said sharply.

His mother set her hands on her hips and eyed him critically.

“I love you, but I’m not so one-eyed I can’t see your faults. You’re charming and handsome, and women have always come too easily to you. Which is fine, except when they want things that you aren’t prepared to give.”

“
You have no idea what I’m prepared to give Tara,” he said.

“
A home? Your heart? A ring? Because those are the things that Tara wants and needs.”

“
You know what? I’m not having this conversation with you. What’s going on between Tara and me is our business, and I don’t have to justify myself or explain myself to you.”

“
No, you do not. But I just hope you can look yourself in the eye when you go sailing off to this new job in Chicago and leave her behind.”

“
For Pete’s sake, will everyone stop going on about the Chicago job as though I’ve got it already? It’s a second interview. Nothing is set in stone.”

“
If it’s not this job, it will be another one, Reid. Be honest with yourself, at least. You always leave. The grass is always greener, life is always elsewhere. And that’s okay, it really is, as long as you don’t set up expectations that you aren’t going to fulfill.”

“
You must think I’m a real asshole,” he said, thoroughly pissed off now.

He yanked the door open and exited angrily to the kitchen before heading for the front door. Tara was waiting by his truck, her head downturned, when he emerged from the house.

She scanned his face as he approached. “You okay?”

“
Yep.”

He held her door open for her, and she considered him for a be
at before climbing into the truck.

She waited until they were pulling out of the driveway and onto the road into town before speaking.

“I hope you and your mom didn’t fight over me.”

“
She thinks I’m going to love you and leave you,” he said shortly.

“
Did you tell her that I was on board with that?”

“
No. It’s none of her business.”

He scowled at the road, his mother
’s voice still echoing in his head. He wasn’t going to apologize for having a broader horizon than her. And he definitely wasn’t going to apologize or justify his private life. He always made sure that he was as honest as he could be with anyone he was involved with, and he’d had his fair share of wounded feelings and broken hearts over the years, too.

“
It’s very sweet of her to be so protective of me. Maybe I should have a word with her,” Tara said. “Explain to her that we both know this is only temporary.”

“
It’s none of her business,” he said.

Her hand landed on his knee, warm and welcome.
“It’s still nice that she cares.”

His shoulders dropped a notch as he let go of some of his irritation.
“That’s because you’re a better person than I am.”

“
I’ve just had more experience dealing with a high-maintenance mom. Yours is a piece of cake compared to mine.”

“
True.”

She squeezed his thigh.
“Count your blessings.”

She
’d managed to tease a smile out of him by the time they turned into her street. Then Tara’s own smile faded as she caught sight of the bright blue bomb parked in front of her townhouse.

Scarlett.

“Shit.”

“
What’s wrong?” he asked.

“
I forgot that Scarlett was coming over today to be here when Simon turns up to collect his stuff.”

“
You think she’s been waiting long?”

“
It’s not that.” Tara tugged on her ponytail nervously.

“
What is it, then?”

“
She’ll see you.”

Right. And that was a bad thing, apparently.

“Not that that’s a bad thing,” Tara said quickly, clearly picking up on his reaction. “It’s just I was kind of hoping we could keep this just between you and me.”

“
And my parents.”

“
And your parents.”

Scarlett had already exited her car and was standing watching them, arms crossed over her chest, her expression unreadable.

“Can I see you tonight?” he asked.

Truth be told, he didn
’t give a fat rat’s caboose who knew about him and Tara, and that included the crew down at the station. She was the only thing that was important, nothing else.

“
Um. Okay, if you want to.”

“
I want to.” He leaned across the hand brake, palming the nape of her neck as he lowered his mouth to hers.

She tasted sweet, and she opened to him, her own hand coming up to tangle in his hair.

“What time should I come?” he asked when they finally parted.

“
What time would you like to come over?”

“
Early.”

She smiled, the slightly-dazed look fading from her eyes.
“Okay. I’ll see you early, then.”

She pressed a last kiss to his lips before grabbing her backpack and sliding from the truck.

He watched her walk over to greet her sister, aware of a deep reluctance within himself to let her go. It wasn’t just because she’d be facing her ex today.

It felt as though he
’d been waiting a life time for Tara already.

Unsettled by his own thoughts, he headed for home.

“Wow. You are powering your way through the Fuck-it list, aren’t you?” Scarlett said as Tara approached.

Tara couldn
’t quite interpret the expression on her sister’s face. “Excuse me?”

“
Have a fling with a hot guy. Remember that one?”

“
Right.” Tara had honestly forgotten that stupid list. After her day at the lake and her night with Reid, it didn’t seem very important.

A day beneath the big Montana sky had put things back into perspective for her.
The truth was, she liked most of her life, was comfortable with most of the choices she’d made.

And those she wasn
’t so happy with would be in the past once Simon had collected his things today.

Scarlett followed her as she let herself into the townhouse and dumped her backpack on the kitchen table.

“You know, I always wondered about you and Reid,” Scarlett said.

“
Did you?” It was news to Tara.

“
Yeah, of course. He’s hot, you guys are stuck in a car together all day. If it was me, I would have jumped him a long time ago.”

“
I was engaged, remember?”

Scarlett dismissed Simon with a flick of her fingers. Tara couldn
’t help thinking that it would be nice to be able to do the same. She really wasn’t looking forward to seeing him today. If she and Scarlett were identical twins, this would totally be a situation where she would be prepared for her sister to pretend to be her.

“
So, has this been one of those simmering-beneath-the-surface things for the whole year you’ve worked together? Or did he just pounce on you out of nowhere? Or did you pounce on him...?”

Scarlett
’s eyes were bright with interest and Tara knew her well enough to understand where she was going with this.

“
Don’t get too excited. Reid is leaving Marietta soon, so this isn’t a star-crossed lovers scenario.”

She pulled her wet swimsuit and towel out of the backpack and went through to the laundry room to dump them in the washing machine.

When she turned around, Scarlett was standing in the doorway, and some of the sparkle had gone out of her eyes.

“
Why is he leaving?”

“
There’s a job in Chicago. Also, he’s a gypsy.” She shrugged, offering her sister a wry smile.

“
But you jumped into bed with him anyway?”

“
I’m living on the wild side, remember?”

Her sister pursed her lips.

“What’s wrong?” Tara asked.

“
Are you sure you know what you’re doing?”

“
Of course. I’m going in with my eyes wide open. I’m going to have a good time with a great guy, and it’s going to be okay when he heads off into the wild blue yonder.”

Scarlett looked unconvinced.

“You don’t believe me?” Tara asked.

“
It’s all great in theory, sweetie. But you didn’t see your face when you got out of his truck just now.”

“
What about my face?”

“
You looked happy. As though the lights were on, and someone was definitely home, and there was a party going on.”

“
I like him. So sue me. But I also know him, and I’m not stupid.”

“
Okay.”

For some reason it was suddenly very important that she convince Scarlett that she meant every word that she said.

“He’s got a second interview for a job on Tuesday, and when they offer him the job, they’ll probably want him to start as soon as possible. So we’re talking a couple of weeks, a month, before he’s on his way. I can handle that.”

Scarlett held up her hands.
“Hey, I believe you. You’ve convinced me.”

Tara narrowed her eyes, but she knew that if she kept pushing, she
’d be getting into “doth protest too much” territory.

“
You want me to start stacking the boxes near the door?” Scarlett said.

“
No. He can lug them around. He’s lucky that I packed his stuff up in the first place.”

The house had been dotted with boxes and garbage bags full of stuff all week, and it would be good to have it gone.

“I heard that he’s lost his job, as predicted.”

“
Good.”

“
I also heard something else, but I’m not sure if I should tell you or not.” Scarlett tucked her fingers into the front pockets of her jeans as she waited for Tara’s response.