Your'e Still the One (5 page)

“There’s a good one.” He huffed out a short laugh. “But it’s not up to me right now. What about you? Anyone special?”

“Here? In Blackfoot Falls? Uh...no.” The condescension in her tone shamed her. Her brothers and Matt and lots of other men born and bred around the county were terrific guys and didn’t deserve the thoughtless remark.

Matt’s mouth quirked up on one side but he didn’t appear to take offense. “Anywhere?”

“No.” She bit her lip and fisted the dish towel. “That was a horrible thing for me to say. I didn’t mean it.”

He shrugged. “Frankly, I didn’t expect you to be here.”

“That, too, is complicated.” She saw amusement enter his eyes. “That’s not payback. I’m being serious.”

“It seems we have some catching up to do.” He lifted a lock of her hair, and she automatically moved closer. “Purple, huh?”

Oh, God, she’d forgotten. “Last year it was pink.”

His brows rose slightly. “So how long does it last?”

“Depends on how much I want to annoy Cole and Jesse, or put up with Trace’s crap.”

“Ah.” He smiled at her, really smiled, as if he was recalling fond memories of them sneaking off to Mill Creek.

They’d kissed there for the first time, and she wondered if he remembered. Not necessarily a good thing. She’d been horrifically inexperienced and it had taken a while for him to get her to relax. Turned out kissing a pair of warm lips was very different than practicing on the back of her hand.

With her luck, it was probably why he’d pecked her on the cheek earlier. That thought broke the warm fuzzy spell she’d been slipping under. She cleared her throat, moved back. “You’re taller.”

Matt blinked, the brief charged moment between them gone. “I think Trace and I were neck and neck when I left. He’s passed me by.”

“My brothers are giants. It’s that McAllister gene.” She stepped around him and closed the dishwasher door. “According to the family Bible, for five generations every McAllister male has topped out over six-two.”

“Trace has gotta be about that. I’m six feet and he’s not
that
much taller than me.”

For a second, Rachel feared she’d misjudged what could’ve led to a nice sexy kiss. Why else were they having this pointless conversation? She doubted Matt’s ego over being shorter than her brothers had anything to do with it. But then she barely knew Matt anymore. Knowing the boy didn’t mean she knew the man. It kind of depressed her because the odds weren’t in her favor. Who could say what success had done to him. In the rodeo world, a champion bull rider had status, money, more women than he knew what to do with. Matt was that guy now.

She rinsed out the sink, fine with letting the conversation lapse, but eventually she looked over at him.

He was leaning against the counter, watching her. “You take after your mom,” he said quietly. “Petite and—”

“I’m not petite. I’m five-five.”

“Whoa.” He chuckled. “I didn’t mean it as an insult.”

She bit off a response. Nikki and Jamie entered the kitchen, carrying more empty glasses and bottles. Rachel smiled, trying not to be grumpy because she no longer had Matt to herself. It was a small miracle that they’d managed to be alone for the fifteen minutes.

As soon as Matt heard Nikki’s voice, he straightened and picked up the bottle he’d left on the counter. “You recycle?”

Puzzled, Rachel nodded and pointed to the blue bin near the mudroom door. The question wasn’t necessarily odd, but his tone was more impersonal. He wouldn’t have lied about Nikki....

“Have you been cleaning up?” Jamie asked, depositing glasses in the sink. “Stop it. Today is supposed to be your day off.”

“Right.” Rachel sighed. “My mom has a headache so I’m pitching in.”

“Put me to work,” Nikki offered.

“No, but thanks.” Rachel hung the towel. “The dishwasher is full. We can let it run while we rejoin the party.”

Matt separated the new crop of bottles and carried them to the bin. “We need to shove off,” he said, and Nikki nodded solemnly. “I wanted to see your mom,” he said to Rachel. “Tell her I’ll come by again, would you?”

“Sure.” She tried not to look surprised, but she wasn’t aware Matt and her mother knew each other well enough that he’d pay her a special visit. “I could get her now.”

“No, don’t. I’ll be around for a while.”

Nikki swung a startled look at him. Clearly, she had other ideas.

5

“S
HE
HASN
’
T
GOTTEN
over you,” Nikki said, the moment they were bumping over the Sundance’s gravel driveway, headed for the highway.

“Who?”

“Oh, come on. You know I mean Rachel. Who I like very much, by the way, so you have my blessing.”

“Gee, thanks. I’m relieved.” Matt shook his head. The beer hadn’t mellowed him. He was irritable but couldn’t figure out why, and Nikki wasn’t helping. “To illustrate how little you know, she was sixteen when I left.”

Nikki laughed. “So you never...got down and dirty with her?”

“Were you not listening? Rachel was sixteen, Nik. Jesus.”

She sighed and let her head fall back against the headrest. “My brother, so honorable. Why can’t I find someone like you?”

It was his turn to laugh. “Careful what you wish for. I thought I’d have to plug Trace’s eyes back in his head when he saw you.”

She let out an unladylike snort. “Guys like him? Uh-uh. Hot? Yes. But he knows it. Uses it. No, thank you. I’ve had my share of those dogs. No more. I’m done.”

“You’re sure about that?” Remarkably cheered, Matt glanced over at her. “Because I don’t think you made yourself clear.”

She brought her head up. “You’re an ass.”

Matt just smiled. She’d called him worse. “I think you’re wrong about Trace.”

“Are you kidding me? Didn’t you see the way he was flirting with those two women?”

“I saw him being polite. The blonde was doing the flirting. But I reckon it doesn’t matter.”

“No, it doesn’t,” she murmured and stared off mutely into the darkness beyond her window. A few seconds later she asked, “How far away are we?”

“Fifteen minutes.”

“Want to go to the Watering Hole?”

“You’re gonna turn into a drunk trying to put off meeting Wallace.”

“So?” She paused. “What do you think? Watering Hole?”

“I’m not dying to see him either, you know.”

“Yeah, I do.” She fidgeted a minute, and then turned on the radio. Only garbled voices blasted from the speakers, so she obsessively pressed buttons.

The connection was poor this far east of Kalispell. He’d already told her earlier. “You won’t find anything.” He tugged at his collar, trying to loosen it. She was making him edgy. Coming out of nowhere, it struck him. “The chocolate cake—I finally got it.”

She turned off the annoying static. “What are you talking about?”

“You hate chocolate cake. I’d wondered what you were up to.... You were giving Rachel and me time alone.”

“So? I’m a thoughtful sister.” She reached for the knob again.

“Then you won’t mind leaving the damn radio off.”

Sighing, she slumped back. “You’re the only person I know who doesn’t keep CDs in their car.”

He ignored her and flicked on the brights. The moon hid behind an overcast sky and it was pitch-black all around them. “Rachel and I were friends. We used to go swimming at a creek up the hill behind the Lone Wolf.”

“Doesn’t mean she didn’t have the hots for you.”

Matt smiled. “Yeah, we had a mutual appreciation for each other. But mostly, we were friends.”

Nikki groaned. “Did you ever kiss?”

He was finally starting to settle down. “Now how in the hell is that your business?”

“It’s not,” she said, flipping her hair back. “So...did you?”

“Yeah, we kissed. Happy?”

“Tongue?”

“Goddammit, Nikki.”

“Okay,” she said, laughing. “Okay.”

“You guys are gonna get along great. You’re just like her, stubborn as a mule. For weeks Rachel badgered me into going with her to Mill Creek until I finally gave in. It was a damn miracle Wallace never caught me sneaking off.”

“What do you mean? Why would you have to sneak to go anywhere?”

Matt regretted his choice of words. Yeah, she already knew Wallace was the worst kind of father. On the other hand, it might help for her to see she hadn’t missed out on anything. “He was strict. No after-school sports or any activities. I had to come right home and do chores around the ranch. No exceptions.”

“That wasn’t strict—it was mean.” She leaned forward and squinted through the windshield at the upcoming signpost to Blackfoot Falls. He wondered if she realized they were about to turn off onto Lone Wolf land. “Could you have friends over?”

He grunted. “That would’ve been miserable and humiliating.”

“Yeah, good point. What about Cole and Trace and the other brother? You guys were friends. Didn’t you hang out?”

When he made the turn there was no mistaking they were close to the ranch. The air in the cab seemed to change. He could feel Nikki’s tension swelling. Might’ve been his own.

It took him a minute to recall their conversation. “Nah, they were into sports and other things, which was just as well. Wallace doesn’t like many people, but he outright hates the McAllisters.”

“Why? They’re so nice.”

“Who knows? Jealousy, maybe. Until our generation came along the tension went back way before I was born.” He’d unconsciously let up on the accelerator but it hadn’t taken long to see lights. “You know where we are, right?”

“I know,” she said softly. “I just don’t know if I really want to meet him.”

Since he couldn’t fault her for that, he kept his mouth shut and drove. Low voltage security lighting seeped out from the stables and both barns. A few floodlights shined toward the corral and calving shed and several outbuildings scattered way in the back. The bunkhouse was ablaze with light. By now the hands were sucking down booze, playing cards and swapping stories they’d already told a dozen times.

And the old-timers were probably trying their damndest to figure out why the hell Matt Gunderson had come back.

The house itself was fairly dark. There was some light inside, a couple of lamps maybe, the timed night-lights that followed the stairs. But the porch, it was black.

And Wallace’s SUV was nowhere to be seen.

The yellow-bellied prick had left.

* * *

“W
HAT
’
S
THAT
?”
T
RACE
HAD
entered the kitchen through the mudroom, sniffing the air and glancing around in search of the casserole Rachel had pulled out of the oven twenty minutes ago. “Smells like that cheesy chicken lasagna thing.”

Right, except he wasn’t getting his paws on it. “Why are you here and not helping corral the horses? It isn’t even noon.”

He frowned at the cooktop she’d just cleaned, opened one oven and then checked inside the other. “Where is it?”

Rachel shouldered him out of the way so she could get into the pantry. “It’s not for you...therefore, you don’t need to know.”

He’d already pulled off his work gloves and stuffed them in his back jeans’ pocket, and she knew darn well he’d try to filch a taste if he found it. “Boy, somebody’s grouchy.”

Not really, just in a hurry, but she could’ve been nicer. “Do you want lunch?”

“The casserole?” he asked, with a hopeful look.

“No.” She sighed, accepting it was pointless to keep mum about her plan. “I made it for Nikki and Matt.”

“They coming over?”

“I’m taking it to them.”

“At the Lone Wolf?”

“Yes.” She was prepared for him to call her crazy, but she’d never personally had a run-in with Mr. Gunderson.

“Why?”

“Why do you think? I’m being neighborly.” Okay, there was more to the gesture. She wanted to see Matt again, but that was her own business.

“I should go with you. Give me a minute to change my shirt.”

“No,” she said, shaking her head when he opened his mouth to object. “I’m just dropping off the casserole. I don’t need a bodyguard.”

“I know.” He raked a hand through his hair, shrugging. “I wouldn’t mind seeing Matt again.”

For being one of those effortlessly charming guys, Trace was a bad liar. Eyeing him, she pulled foil out of the drawer. “You’re trying to weasel out of giving the new guests riding lessons.”

“Wrong.” He turned on the sink faucet to wash his hands. “For your information I already pawned that off on Josh.”

“Thanks,” she said with enough sarcasm to get his full attention. That he could look pleased with himself blew her mind. “I really need Cole in my face for pulling away one of his wranglers to entertain guests.”

“He won’t be upset. Don’t get so jumpy.” Frowning at her, Trace dried his hands. “Is it because of Matt?”

“Of course not.” She busied herself with checking the semi- cooled casserole sitting under a dish towel on the kitchen table.

Trace stared at it and shook his head. “I know you had a crush on him back in the day....”

Her first impulse was denial. She paused. “You did not.”

“Yep, we all did.”

“Huh, really.” She chuckled. “I thought I was being so sly. Anyway, that was a long time ago, and he’s with Nikki now.”

“They’re just friends.”

“Right.” She’d spent an hour in bed last night analyzing Matt’s assertion they weren’t a couple. She believed him, yet there was a strong connection between them she couldn’t put her finger on.

“He’s not sleeping with her, if that’s what’s bothering you.”

“Nothing is bothering me.” She yanked a piece of foil from the roll a bit too enthusiastically. “How do you know he’s not?”

“Can’t explain it. I just do. If you asked Cole, he’d tell you the same thing.”

“Jeez, I’m not asking Cole.” She glanced toward the door to the dining room. Too late to worry about someone eavesdropping. “And don’t you say anything.” She exhaled. “About anything.”

Grinning, Trace held up his hands. “Got it.”

She felt a smile tug at her lips. He really was a good brother and a friend. When he wasn’t being annoying. “I’ll make another cheesy chicken casserole for you.”

“Damn right you will.”

“But I’m still going to the Lone Wolf by myself,” she added, and noting his resigned nod, finally understood his motive for wanting to accompany her. “You want to see Nikki.”

“I sure wouldn’t mind.” He reached into the ceramic cookie jar and stuck a chocolate chip cookie in his mouth while he pulled on a glove.

Nice trick. Rachel would have to remember that the next time she wanted to end a conversation. Though she was quite willing to let the matter drop. Too many thoughts about Matt were spinning inside her head. Their short time alone in the kitchen last night had proven they still had chemistry. If Nikki wasn’t an obstacle, Rachel had to seriously consider how she should respond to the renewed attraction.

This wasn’t Dallas. Having more than a twenty-minute public conversation with Matt would be enough to grease the Blackfoot Falls rumor mill. Then there was her 24/7 responsibility for the Sundance guests. That alone restricted her personal activities.

If she decided to go for it, but wasn’t careful, she might as well take out an ad in the
Salina Gazette
that she wanted to sleep with Matt Gunderson.

* * *

T
HE
G
UNDERSON
HOUSE
remained well kept though not as pristine as she remembered. But since the economy had tanked, that was true of most of the ranches, including the Sundance. And yet the beige trim around the windows looked as if the paint had been touched up last summer and the shutters might’ve recently been replaced. The red door was the only thing different from ten years ago. After Matt had left, she hadn’t come near the Lone Wolf.

She parked her mom’s compact alongside Matt’s truck under the bare elm on the side of the house. Wallace’s Escalade was nowhere in sight but that didn’t mean he wasn’t home. The SUV was new and pricey, and he might’ve parked it in one of the storage buildings around the property. Or maybe someone else had taken it out. She’d heard in town that he rarely drove anymore and when he did go out one of his guys accompanied him.

As much as she disliked the man, she still felt bad about his circumstances. He’d lost his wife three years ago, and that had to be hard on him. After her father had succumbed to cancer the whole family had suffered, but Rachel remembered too well how long it had taken her mom to rejoin the living.

She climbed out and went around to the passenger side to get the casserole. Two men working with a black stallion in the corral lifted their hands in greeting. She didn’t recognize either of them, but she waved back, thinking how she’d known practically everyone when she was a kid. But going off to college had changed many things, most of them for the better, though some adjustments weren’t coming so easily.

Snow that had been shoveled off the stone walkway and pushed to the side flanked her steps to the front door. The area was fairly clear, even in the shade, because there hadn’t been a significant snowfall in a couple of weeks. It’d been a very weird winter, yet the weather hadn’t hurt reservations at the Sundance. The guests kept coming, and if it weren’t for Jamie’s help, Rachel would have no life at all.

Standing at the door, balancing the casserole in one arm, she fluffed out the sides of her hair, then cleared her throat while she used the brass knocker.

Within seconds, Matt opened the door.

He wore jeans and an unbuttoned black shirt. The moment he saw her a smile curved his mouth.

“Hi.” She tried so hard not to look at his chest.

“Come in.” He stepped back, holding the door open wide.

She scraped off her boots, glancing around the foyer and up the staircase as she crossed the threshold. “I can only stay a minute.”

“Nikki’s in her room and Wallace hasn’t come home since last night.” Matt closed the door. “I just made coffee. You want some?”

“Um, sure, if it’s no trouble.” Her gaze went to the strip of smooth skin where his shirt hung open.

“Sorry. I just got out of the shower,” he murmured, glancing down, as if suddenly aware of his semi-clothed state.

“Here,” she said, pushing the covered casserole at him, even though his fingers had gone to the first button.

Forced to abandon it, he accepted the dish. “What’s this?”

“Dinner. Or lunch. Whatever. I made it this morning.” She purposely avoided looking below his chin. Vaguely she realized he’d shaved. He looked more like her old Matt. Not his chest, though. Wow. “You’ll just have to heat it.”