His Hometown Cowgirl (4 page)

Kelsey bent over the table and lit the
candles. The top of the sheet cake blazed brightly in the
semi-darkness of the pavilion.

"Hey, Pete!" Tyler called from the other side
of the table, where he stood close to his mother. "Better get ready
to douse those flames. Think you ought to go get the new chopper,
just in case?"

Kelsey's blue eyes snagged Pete's, and he
held her gaze until she quickly looked away. "I don't think so, Ty.
Mrs. Ruth will do just fine blowing out the candles. No need to
bring in the heavy equipment, as far as I can tell."

Tyler lifted his drink in salute. "You're the
professional. Just keep careful watch. Those candles are putting
off a lot of heat. Looks like a regular inferno."

Ruth leaned over and playfully smacked her
youngest son's arm. "I'm not
that
old, Mister Smarty-pants.
Pete has no need to fight this fire. I have it under control."

Kelsey chuckled, but it sounded forced to
Pete. "Come on, everyone," she said with a bright smile that didn't
quite reach her blue eyes. "Let's sing before the cake really does
burn up."

"Well, it won't be my fault if it does," Ruth
said. "Gather round children and help your old Grams blow out the
candles."

Pete smiled when the herd of young kids
pushed closer to Ruth. She lifted the smallest onto her lap and
draped her arms around the two standing closest to her chair.

Ruth McCade was the embodiment of what a
grandmother should be. His own mother was also a wonderful
grandmother to his two sisters' children, but something about Mrs.
Ruth's warm and loving nature made her even more exceptional. He
hadn't been kidding when he'd said Mrs. Ruth was a special lady.
She'd always treated Pete as one of her own. He'd eaten many Sunday
dinners with the McCade family in the large kitchen of the old
ranch house.

He liked being part of the Diamondback Ranch
even if only in his own small way. His father had died when he'd
been a very young boy, and he could barely remember him. Pete had
lived in a household of three loving and doting females. So being
around good men like the McCade brothers had helped him grow up
with strong masculine role models.

"Okay now," Kelsey said. "
One, two,
three
. . ." Her sweet voice started the birthday song, and the
group of family and friends standing around the table sang with
loud gusto, some a little off-key, but all with an enthusiasm that
showed how much they loved Ruth McCade. When the song ended, a
chorus of "Make a wish! Make a wish!" echoed around the covered
pavilion.

"Hold on a minute," Ruth said. She dabbed her
eyes on a tissue and delicately blew her nose. Then she closed her
eyes and everyone seemed to hold their breaths. Mrs. Ruth always
cried over the smallest things. She was a gentle soul, Pete thought
fondly.

After a moment. she leaned closer to the cake
and blew with all her might. Only a few of the many candles were
extinguished. "Oh dear! Help me, children! Hurry now! Everyone
blow!"

All the little kids leaned forward and blew
until every last one of the seventy-four candles flickered out and
tiny streams of smoke floated toward the stars.

Pete snagged Kelsey's eyes again and smiled.
She blushed and smiled back, holding his gaze for a long heartbeat
or two. This time the smile reached her eyes. He knew it was only a
smile shared in appreciation of her grandmother and little cousins'
adorable antics, but his blood hummed even so. He told himself it
was because he'd been so long without sex, and it was just a
natural reaction to a beautiful woman's smile.

Sell it some place else, Lafferty.

He glanced around the table and caught the
hard glare of Kelsey's dad, Austin McCade. Pete nodded to the man.
If looks could kill, he'd be dead for sure. He continued looking
around the table at the McCade family, the kids, the wives, the
brothers. Kelsey's uncles were glaring at him, too. Hell, even Sam
Garza was shooting him the evil eye. Pete held each of their gazes
for a long moment, before breaking contact.

Well, damn. He raised his longneck and took a
long pull. So much for being a small part of the Diamondback Ranch.
The men's hostile attitudes only reaffirmed his own conclusion that
he wasn't the right man for Kelsey. She deserved her white-picket
fence and happily-ever-after. Pete knew deep in his heart he wasn't
the one who could give her that kind of commitment.

He didn't know what his problem was, but he'd
never been good at establishing relationships with the women he
dated. Things would be going along very well and the sex would be
good, but he never fell in love. Would he ever? He liked and
respected the ladies he took out. He'd liked several of them pretty
damn good. But there'd never been any feeling of a deeper emotion,
certainly not enough for him to give up his freedom.

"Pete? You want a piece of cake?" Kelsey held
out a saucer toward him with a generous slice and a shy smile.

"Sure. Let me get rid of this beer first." He
looked past her to see Austin standing behind his daughter, his
eyes narrowed and hostile. What the hell did the man think he was
going to do? Drag her off to the barn, strip her naked and have sex
with her? As soon as the image of making love to Kelsey flashed in
his brain, Pete almost choked on the last swallow of his beer.

Hell yeah, that's what he'd like to do, but
it wasn't going to happen.
Ever
.

Pete tossed the empty bottle into the recycle
barrel and took the slice of cake from Kelsey. "Thanks, kid." He
touched her nose like he'd done a hundred times before, but this
time the seemingly innocent gesture sent a not-so-innocent spark of
electricity straight to his groin.

Kelsey's eyes widened. She quickly stepped
back and busied herself with helping Molly serve cake to the other
guests.

Pete glanced at Austin again and raised his
saucer in a sort of salute and masculine understanding. Kelsey's
dad nodded and moved away from his daughter to go sit with his
wife. Pete walked slowly back to the table where he'd been sitting
before the birthday celebration had commenced.

The cake was good as always. It was the
special Texas Hot Cocoa cake Molly Sherman had baked for her aunt.
He sat eating the sweet dessert and enjoying the festive atmosphere
of another famous barbeque and get-together at the Diamondback
Ranch. He really liked the McCade family. He liked being a part of
the ranch. He took another bite of the rich chocolate cake,
savoring the burst of flavor and sugar on his taste buds.

Tyler McCade slid into a seat across from
Pete and stared at him with a not-so-friendly look on his face. The
man didn't say anything, and his mouth was set in a grim line.

Pete took his time chewing and swallowing his
last bite of cake, then wiped his mouth on a napkin. He leaned his
chair back, balancing on the two rear legs, and returned look for
look with his business partner and friend. "What's up?" he asked,
although he had a pretty good idea what Tyler was going to say.

"Nothing better be up, buddy. I've seen you
making goo-goo eyes at Kelsey. Speaking as a concerned uncle, all
I'm saying is you'd better watch yourself around her. She doesn't
need a heartbreaker like you messing with her emotions."

"So speaks the voice of experience?"

Tyler nodded. "Damned straight. Takes one to
know one. Just keep your distance. Her heart's already been broken.
It's taken her this long for her spirit to rally. She doesn't need
to go through that again."

Pete quickly sat forward and the front legs
of the chair thunked on the cement floor of the pavilion. "Have a
little faith in me, Ty. I know the kid's still grieving for her
fiancé. I wouldn't do
anything
to hurt Kelsey. She's hurting
enough already."

"Then stop with the sheep's eyes. I saw her
blush and smile at you a while ago. And I don't know if you
noticed, but she's not wearing her engagement ring today. So don't
get any ideas."

Pete's head jerked to the left, zeroing in to
where Kelsey sat near her grandmother eating her own piece of cake.
No, he hadn't noticed the ring missing. He'd been too busy trying
to calm his over-heated libido. He returned his attention to
Tyler.

The man's frown deepened. "Don't even think
about it, buddy. Caitlyn says Kels is trying to put her past behind
her and move on. Keep away from her, you hear?"

Pete folded his hands on top of the table,
gripping his fingers tightly together, trying to control his
temper. He reminded himself that Tyler was just looking out for his
niece. "Listen, I'm not going to start anything with Kelsey," he
said. "I don't know how to do long-term, and I'm fully aware that
Kelsey is off-limits. She's safe with me. She's safe
from
me."

"All right, then." Tyler shoved back his
chair and stood.

Pete quickly scrambled to his own feet, not
wanting Tyler towering over him, making him feel at a disadvantage.
He stuck out his hand. "Are we good then?"

Tyler hesitated for only a moment, then
smiled his easy smile. He grasped Pete's hand and pumped it up and
down. "We're good. Make sure it stays that way."

"I'll do my best." Pete tightened his grip,
then released Tyler's hand.

Tyler leaned over and punched his shoulder.
"You'd better, or you're toast."

****

Kelsey sat with her cousins who were gathered
around Grams, as she opened her gifts. The kids
oohed
and
ahhed
with every present their grandmother unwrapped.

Kelsey tried to keep her mind on what was
happening at the table, but her attention kept wandering to where
Pete stood near the jukebox. The smiles they'd exchanged throughout
the evening warmed her cold heart, but at the same time, she still
felt enshrouded in a fog where she continued to be lost.

Shouldn't she be getting over Chris' death by
now? What was wrong with her?

Was she more like her father than she'd ever
guessed? Kelsey's mother had died giving birth to her, and Austin
had shut down his emotions and grieved for twelve years. For a long
time, Kelsey had blamed herself for her mother's death and her
father's sorrow.

But it had all turned out well for her
father, thanks in part to Kelsey playing matchmaker. Austin had
found true love again and married Kelsey's teacher, and they'd
given Kelsey the best little sister ever.

She sighed. And for like the thousandth time,
she rubbed the spot on her finger where her ring had been, a habit
she'd developed to straighten the band to keep the diamond
solitaire from slipping to the side. It had always been a little
loose, thus the reflexive movement to make sure it was still on her
finger.

Only, it wasn't on her finger any longer. A
week had passed since she'd removed it, tucked it safely inside her
jewelry box and tried not to feel like she was betraying Chris by
not wearing it. Every time she rubbed the empty place on her
finger, it reminded her that not only was the ring gone, Chris was
gone, too.

Forever.

Kelsey shook her head. She really needed to
do something that would shake her up and push her into the world of
the living once and for all. Throwing herself into her work,
pushing herself to organize and oversee the launch of Farmtime
Trails had helped only so much.

Ruthie Mae, Kelsey's little sister, handed
Grams a large gift box wrapped in shiny blue paper. "Here, Grams.
Open this one. I saved it for last. I picked it out all by myself."
The little girl hopped from one foot to the other, excited about
the present she'd chosen for Grams.

Kelsey smiled. Her little sister was a
nine-year-old perpetual-motion machine; she couldn't keep still.
Her dad said Ruthie Mae made Kelsey look like a couch potato when
she'd been a little girl. He always winked when he said it because
it was
so
not true. Kelsey had been a little
whirlwind--always moving, always active, always leading the
pack.

And now she was struggling to overcome the
death of the man she'd loved, the man she'd planned to marry.

For God's sakes, Kels. Get a grip, why don't
you?

"Oh, my heavens!" Grams said, gazing into the
opened box. "Look at all the colorful yarns. I love it. I'll start
on a new afghan right away. Thank you, Ruthie Mae. Come give me a
hug."

"I'm glad you like it, Grams." The little
girl threw her arms around her grandmother's neck.

Ruth smiled through a fresh gush of tears.
"I'm the luckiest old woman in the whole wide world." She looked
around the table at her family and friends gathered round. "We have
so
much to be thankful for. And I thank everyone for all of
my lovely presents."

"All right!" Daniel said, jumping up from his
seat. "Time for the dancing! I'll start up the music again." With
several of his younger cousins tagging after him, he ran across the
pavilion toward the vintage jukebox and switched it back on.

Kelsey sat where she was and watched her dad
offer his hand to her stepmom. One by one, all of her uncles
claimed their wives for the dance. Soon the floor was full of
whirling couples and laughing children all dancing together.

All of her life, Kelsey had been surrounded
by her loving family. She remembered when her uncles and her dad
had fallen in love and married. From then on, she'd had excellent
examples of good strong marriages.

She'd wanted that for herself. She
still
wanted it.

Kelsey's eyes strayed toward Pete, still
standing near the jukebox, laughing at the kids who were shoving
each other, trying to push the buttons for their favorite
songs.

As if he felt her eyes on him, Pete turned
and gazed back. Her stomach dipped in an alarming manner. Had her
youthful starry-eyed feelings for him turned into something more
mature? Something more sensual? Something more promising?