Escaping the Past (Wester Farms) (3 page)

“I’ll take her down, Lou,” John said, grabbing the backpack and bending over so Sarah could climb on his back. They walked over close to Lou so she could get a peck on the cheek.

“How about me?” John asked with his bottom lip poked out.

Lou smacked him soundly on the rump before she said, “Giddy up.”

The hands all laughed as John walked out the door with a false look of dejection on his face.

Through the screen door, all the hands could hear Sarah say
, “I’ll give you a kiss, John.”
Then she
squeal
ed
with laughter.

Lou stood in the doorway and watched them walk to the end of the lane. Then she turned and started clearing the dishes from the table as Sadie loaded the industrial sized dishwasher. When the task was complete,
Lou
threw the towel down and looked at her watch. “Sadie, I’m going for my run. Be back in about an hour.”

“
Jogging
?” Brody asked.

Lou just nodded, glancing at her watch with impatience.

“Care if I join you? I want to talk to you anyway.”

She looked slightly annoyed.
“Can you hurry? I have a lot of work to do today,” Lou replied.

“I’ll meet you outside in five minutes. I just need to change my shoes,” Brody said.

***
*

True to his word, Brody stepped off the back porch steps no more than five minutes later. Lou could almost feel his gaze on her as she stretched against the board rail fence. Her right leg was extended in the air, her ankle resting on the top rail. She bent with her nose nearly touching her knee. She flexed and extended her arms toward her toes, taking full advantage of the stretching position.

She dropped her leg. Her eyes met his, not comprehending the reason for the sudden darkening of his slate gray eyes.

“Ready?” she asked, checking her watch.

“Always,” replied Brody.

She started the jog down the trail slowly, regulating her breaths as her feet hit the path. The jogging trail took them down the dirt drive that led to the bus stop. Lou then turned and cut across a small path that led around the edge of the property. The path was well worn and wide enough for the two of them to run abreast.

“Do you run every day?” Brody asked between breaths.

“Five days a week,” Lou replied shortly, still timing her breaths to her coincide with her footfalls. “You?”

“Every day, if I have an opportunity. I am on a tight schedule at the hospital.”

“You’re a doctor, right?”

“
A
surgeon.”

“I thought so. When I called, they said you were in surgery. How did you get here so fast?”

“They interrupted me during a procedure. I caught the first plane out. Sorry about catching you in your undies with John. I didn’t mean to ruin the moment.”

“What moment?” she asked, nearly tripping over an exposed root.

He reached out to catch her fall and her eyes met his. What she wouldn’t give to know what he was thinking.

“You were in your underwear and John was shirtless so I just assumed.” He shrugged.

“You know what they say about people who assume, right?”

“They make an ass out of you and me?” he asked with a smirk on his face.

She did not reply but merely picked up the pace of their run, making it harder to talk. The path became too narrow to run side
-
by
-
side so he dropped in behind her. She was almost relieved, until she realized he was in a perfect position to watch her butt muscles flex with every step.
 
She winced at the very thought. And wished she hadn’t had ice cream two nights the week before.

The path widened and he moved back up to where he could run beside her. She tried not to look when he grabbed the tail of his T-shirt and pulled it over his head. He then pushed the tail of the shirt into his waistband. Lou turned her face to him and couldn’t draw her gaze away. It moved as though of its own accord from his steely gray eyes to his neck. His strong jaw was clenched with concentration. Her gaze stopped when she met the hair on his belly that dipped into his waistband.

“You want me to remove those, too?” he asked with a smirk.

“Suit yourself,” she said, as heat crept up her cheeks. Damn him for noticing her appraisal.

A small chuckle was his only response. “You can take yours off, too, you know.”

“You couldn’t pay me enough,” she replied.

“So money is a motivator? Is that why you have attached yourself to John? You think he might be worth part of the farm some day?”

Her breath stopped in her throat as she realized his meaning. She stepped in front of him and stopped abruptly. He stopped short, nearly knocking into her as she blocked his path. Her back straightened as though her five foot eight inch frame could meet his six foot two. She poked a finger in his chest and forced herself to speak around heaving breaths.

“How dare you! You don’t even know me! How dare you make an assumption about my motives?”

He placed two hands up in mock surrender. “I just know I saw you almost naked. You’re living here with your child who has no father, freeloading off my mother. You have Sadie and Jeb wrapped around your pretty little finger.
” He held his little finger up in the air and swirled it like a lasso.
“
What else am I supposed to think?”

Tears
prick
ed
at the backs of her lashes. She turned from him quickly and resumed her run, the pace becoming faster and faster until she left him far behind. He was just out of her eyesight as she turned the corner at the pasture fence and slowed at the back steps. She did not stop to stretch again but blasted through the screen door, heading for her room and a shower. The door slammed behind her.

****

“What’s wrong with Lou?” Sadie asked, rising from her chair
when Brody walked into the kitchen

“Who knows, Sadie
?
I guess I offended her,” Brody replied, shaking his head. “
A
ll I did was ask her some questions. About why she’s here.”

Jeb rose from his chair and crossed the room to stand before Brody. “What do you mean, boy?” he asked, his brow drawn together.

“I already told you, Jeb, I left the boy back on the farm twelve years ago.” Brody
couldn’t help but
bristle.

“Then I suggest you act like the man you claim to be and tell me why Lou just flew through here like a cat with her tail on fire, and about as mad, too. What did you do?”

“It’s not about what I did, Jeb. It’s about what she has done. She’s not what she seems.
I can tell it. There’s something I don’t trust about her
.”

Jeb took a deep breath and looked Brody in the eye. “Say again?”

“She must have y’all snowed, Jeb. Those calf eyes and the ponytail make her seem so innocent.”

“Boy
,
”
Jeb began. B
rody clench
ed
his jaw at the comment, yet
the man
continued his speech. “You don’t deserve to know but I’m going to tell you anyway just to set my own mind at ease. She came here when she was almost nineteen years old. She had a two-month-old baby and no home. I found her lying in the middle of the road and brought her here. We have all been happy with her being here ever since. She didn’t know much about life and she knew even less about mothering. But she learned. Your mother saw some potential in her and made sure she had an education and a roof over her head. She had a built
-
in family with Sadie and me and John and your ma. She pays us back for it every single day, although we have never asked her to. We get the pleasure of her company and we get to see the benefits of her hard work.

Jeb took a deep breath as he continued. “That girl puts in more work on the ranch than any five hands we have out at the barn. She gets up with the chickens to save Sadie from having to haul food for the hands
,
and that’s not even part of her job. She’ll be here again at lunchtime, no doubt, for just the same reason. Her job here is to take care of the finances for the stables and the crew. She makes sure they all get paid well and on time but she’s worth more than that. Both she and her daughter are a part of Western Skies. That’s more than I can say for you.” Jeb placed his hat on his head and walked out the backdoor. Brody winced as the screen door slammed.

He turned to Sadie. She shook her head in disappointment. “I thought better of you, son.”

“Sadie, I didn’t know,” Brody said.

“Now you do,” she said and walked out the door.

****

Lou stormed through the door of her room and flopped on the edge of the bed. Her shoes hit the floor with a bang and her socks followed.

“The nerve of some people,” she hissed before she stepped into the bathroom. Her breath still rushed in anger
as she
flung clothes off with abandon. “I’ve lived and worked here for years
,
and he comes home for a day and judges me.” She turned on the shower spray and placed her closed fist beneath the spray, testing for warmth. Her anger pulsed against the warm water until she stepped beneath it. The warmth hit her face and she placed both elbows against the wall, resting her weight against them. Only then did she start to relax.

She allowed the water to pour over her face and shoulders. The water served to wash away the sweat from the run as well as the tension in her body. She let his hateful words and antagonism wash down the drain. Taking deep breaths, she soaped her hair and washed her face, then applied scented shower gel to her legs and arms.

She stepped from the shower feeling much calmer and wrung her wet hair like a rope, removing most of the water. She then bent forward and wrapped a towel around the brown mass of hair. Lou wrapped her body in another towel and tucked it between her breasts. She then moved to the wardrobe to choose her clothing. She bent to open the bottom drawer and heard a rap on the door.

She heard her name called just as she saw the door handle jiggle
. She turned, her bottom still in the air and was about to call out
for whomever was on the other side to wait a moment
when the door opened
,
and a blond head with a square jaw popped through. Flint
-
colored eyes met her own.

****

She
gasp
ed
and reach
ed
to cover her breasts, even though they were well shielded from his gaze by the fluffy towel.

S
he shrieked. “Get out!”

“Oh, God.” He closed his eyes but his head did not retreat. Her image was already burn
ed
on the inside of his eyelids. “I just came to apologize. I’m sorry. I’ll come back later.” He pulled his head back and
something
hit the door
. Did she throw a shoe at him? On purpose?

Brody stood outside the door and could hear her curses from inside the room. His blood ran hot at the thought of her little bottom bent over in front of the wardrobe. He could see the curve of her rear in his mind’s eye. When she stood up, he could see the cleft between her breasts, clenched tightly by the towel so they created small swells above the material. He shook his head to get rid of the image, but then his thoughts just jumped to her long, golden legs. In his head, he imagined them bare
,
and they seemed to be a mile long with no pants to mar the lines. He shook his head again.