Country Courtship (The Texas Two-Step Series, Book 2) (15 page)

Now her blush blazed across her features. "It sure sounded like it to me."

"Nah. Just dinner with the family. My sister will be there and she can chaperone if you're afraid of yourself. I, however, can be trusted not to take advantage of you." Other than stealing another kiss, possibly, but they could take that up once the time came.

"I don't understand why you still want me to talk with Monty Joe."

"He doesn't trust that I'm not in town. If you give him your assurance I've been here all along, that will go a long way toward calming him down." It was true, but he couldn't very well tell her he wanted her to come and meet his banker. There was no doubt about how she'd take
that
given her past. And even though he wanted her to meet the banker because it would help out the family, he wanted even more to spend time with her. If he mentioned
that
, she'd turn him down flat.

"If I go, you'll make a sizeable donation?"

"You got it. A big donation."

"Define big."

He spread his arms. "Huge."

"Define that."

"Substantial."

"And that is?"

He named a hefty sum.

She gave him a giant, toothy grin. "What time do we leave?"

"You prefer flying or driving?"

Her brows creased in confusion, as he'd expected, but she answered gamely, "Flying."

"My brother-in-law, Davis, is flying down and we can catch a ride with him and Charlie. So I'm thinking I could pick you up that afternoon. Work for you?"

When she didn't immediately answer, he added, "If you'd prefer, we can drive."

Her eyes met his and he could feel her gaze all the way to his toes. It was warm, inviting, and felt very much like home, if home could be expressed as an emotion. She gave a little nod, as if she was satisfied by the answer she found by raiding his mind. "You're taking me to the Nelson Ranch."

It should have been a question, but it was a statement and Bobby Gray grew nervous that she'd waded through all of his deepest secrets. Did she know he'd been willing to trick her to get her to come and meet the banker? It hadn't been necessary, but he would have done so in order to make peace with his brother and get that loan the Nelson Ranch needed for expansion. A niggle of guilt ate at his insides.

"If you want to go to the ranch we can. We're flying into Bryan and our dinner is scheduled at a restaurant in College Station. That's where we'll meet Monty Joe."

"Why can't we eat here?"

"I want you to meet Monty Joe and the dinner's been in the works for awhile."

Her expression grew stubborn, as if she intended to renege. The thought that she might back out irritated his ego like his new boots chafed his feet.

"You want the donation or not?" he quickly asked to remind her why she should agree.

"I guess I could fly there with your family, then."

Tightness clutching his stomach released. Before she could change her mind he said, "I'll pick you up at 3:30. Your house?"

"No. Here. At the clinic." Kelli ran her hand over Bluebonnet's mane and Bobby Gray wished, just for the one moment, that he too was a horse she'd pet.

"Bluebonnet needs to stay at the clinic for a few days. She's not in immediate danger, but I'd like to keep an eye on her while we give her some IV nourishment. It would be a good idea for my partner to take a look at her, too."

Bobby Gray nodded his agreement and glanced down at his dog. "Time to head out."

Grrr barked, turning to the horse as if encouraging her to come along as well.

"No, boy. Bluebonnet's staying. Kelli will take good care of her."

The dog mutinously lowered himself to the ground beside the horse, as if telling Bobby Gray, "No way am I leaving my horse behind."

"Don't be difficult."

Kelli offered a dog treat to Bobby Gray to use as a lure. But near-starved or not, the foolish dog wasn't the least bit tempted to climb into the truck.

"Tell you what, Grrr," said Bobby Gray in his best sweet-talking tones, "you hop on up into the truck and you'll have steak for dinner."

That didn't work either.

"Dawg," drawled Bobby Gray with extreme annoyance, "don't make me—"

He was cut off by the sound of Grrr grrring.

Kelli broke in on their less than satisfactory conversation. "He's obviously attached to Bluebonnet. Why don't I keep them both?"

"I don't want to be a bother." He shot his new dog a dirty look.

She laughed. "Trust me.
They
are no bother."

Of course she meant
he
was. All he could think of was what a lucky dog Grrr was. Bobby Gray wanted Kelli to keep him, too.

Reluctantly he turned to leave. Alone. But with any luck, that wouldn't be for long. After their dinner, Kelli would become aware of what a likeable guy he was and she'd agree to spend more time with him. It was only a matter of time before she came around to seeing things his way. "See you Saturday, then."

Kelli smiled sweetly and batted her eyelashes. "Don't forget to bring your checkbook."

Chapter 11

Kelli was certain of one thing—she had to talk with Lori. Her sister would never forgive her for making time with her man while she was busy working at her job as a flight attendant.

But Kelli had been trying to reach her for days without success. Probably Lori was still out of the country, because her normal contact phone number wasn't working—or at least Lori hadn't answered any of the many messages Kelli had left.

Lori usually kept their father up-to-date with a number where she could be reached anywhere and anytime, except when she was in the air. Kelli headed to her folks' home after work, intent on getting the number.

Security waved her through at the guardhouse and she quickly parked her hybrid SUV in front of the house. Her sister Abby must be practicing because Kelli heard a stanza of gorgeous piano music being repeated.

As she entered the foyer, Abby called out a greeting from the living room. "Hey, sis. S'up?"

"Not much." Kelli took a seat beside Abby on the piano bench and fondly did a two-fingered rendition of Chopsticks, the best song she'd ever mastered on the piano. Abby, on the other hand, planned to minor in music theory.

Kelli asked, "Dad around?"

Abby shrugged. "He said something about needing a silencer and disappeared into the game room about an hour ago. What do you need him for?"

"Trying to find another number to reach Lori. You don't have one for her, do you?"

"Nope." Abby swung her head in the negative, setting her shiny auburn hair shimmering in the sunlight streaming from the floor-to-ceiling windows. "She's not going to give you permission to steal her boyfriend, though, even if you do reach her."

Kelli fought to maintain a blank expression. While it would be wonderful if Lori told Kelli that she was free to date Bobby Gray, it wasn't the reason why she wanted to reach her sister. At least she didn't think it was. "What makes you think that's what I want?"

Abby snorted. "I have eyes. I have ears."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Was she so easily read?

"You're nuts about him, that's what." Abby banged out dee-dee-dee-dahhhh on the keyboard.

Kelli rolled her eyes. "Baby sisters are such pains in the—"

Abby cut Kelli off by covering her mouth with her hand. "Don't say it. You'll have to pay the cursing jar! And you know that's just providing money for Thistle's addiction."

Their sister Thistle always seemed to finagle a way to win the proceeds from the family cursing jar. She always spent it all on her obsession: shoes. Unlike the cursing jar at Kelli's clinic, this one was usually stuffed with bills and it had long been Abby's goal to be the beneficiary.

"Shows what you know," Kelli retorted. "I was going to say
behind
."

"Of course you were—not."

"Really."

"Fine. As long as Thistle doesn't bring home another ten pairs of shoes. She's been eyeing my closet space!"

"Get back to practicing." Kelli gave Abby a quick hug and headed off to find her dad. Knowing him, he wouldn't be far from the kitchen. The man simply loved to eat.

As she wandered in, she saw she was in luck. He stood at the center island, eating ice cream out of the carton. Mildred, the family cook, was nowhere in sight. Since Dad was on a Mom-imposed diet, Mildred had probably made herself scarce. "Dad! Mom would be shocked."

He leaped in guilty surprise but grinned when he saw it was Kelli. "No need to tell Mom. Grab a spoon." He offered her the carton.

Kelli slid open the silverware drawer and selected a huge serving spoon. The likelihood of getting a second scoop was slim, so she needed to go for the gold right out of the starting gate. She dipped a lovely large bite of ice cream and wrapped her mouth around it. "Yum. Double chocolate turtle almond."

"Nothing better," said Dad.

They stood in happy solitude eating the ice cream for several minutes, before Dad asked, "How's life treating you?"

"Okay." She lunged for another bite of ice cream, but he raised the carton out of her reach. "I'm mad at you, by the way."

"What did I do?" he asked, holding the carton near enough for her to make a grab, but far enough that she failed to reach her target.

She gave him her most stern expression. "You deserted me at the country club the other day."

"Just part of my evil plan to get my daughters married off." He held his hand up as if he were pleading guilty, giving her the opportunity to dive in for another scoop of ice cream.

"Bad bit of planning on your part, then," she said as she licked the spoon, "because Bobby Gray is
Lori's
boyfriend."

"Didn't look like that to me."

She tried a nonchalant shrug, although she wasn't sure whether it came off more chalant than non. "What do fathers know?"

"I heard they know best." He dug out more ice cream as he took a seat on a stool.

"Yeah, right." She grabbed the stool beside him and sat. She couldn't possibly admit her growing—fondness—for Bobby Gray. Even the idea of him dating Lori made Kelli want to yelp in protest. What if they fell in love? What if they got married? Good heavens—what if they had children?

Would Kelli ever be able to look at her future nieces and nephews without sobbing that she wasn't their mother?

Her father was a little
too
right. But she couldn't allow him to find out. "Since you know best, do you have a phone number for Lori? I can't reach her at her normal number."

"I've tried to never interfere in relations between you sisters before," he began. "But—are you sure you're making a wise move by calling Lori?"

"Why wouldn't it be?"

"She'll never give her permission for you to date Bobby Gray."

She crossed her fingers behind her back. "That's not why I'm calling her."

His brow rose in surprise but he wisely didn't comment. If he contradicted her on why she wanted to call Lori, she'd probably dissolve into tears. It was bad enough that Kelli already felt like a traitor, but evidently both her father and baby sister thought she truly was one. Maybe her whole family did.

"I'm not going to steal Lori's boyfriend."

"I didn't think you were."

"I'm not calling to ask her permission to steal him, either."

"So why are you calling her?"

Kelli bit her lip. It had all seemed so simple before her family began asking questions. She'd call her sister and explain about the trip to College Station—with Lori's boyfriend and his family, and on his family's personal plane. No big deal, right?

But now it felt very much like a big deal, and the last thing she wanted to do was hurt her sister. However, the equestrian rescue group really needed money and her supervisor was disappointed by the amounts she'd raised so far.

This was not a job she
had
to do. Her job was treating sick animals. But this was something she
wanted
to do—help provide safety and security for elderly horses. It wasn't something she could afford to do on her own.