Country Courtship (The Texas Two-Step Series, Book 2) (16 page)

The rescue group was a good one, with very little of its money going to administration or fundraising. Ninety-eight cents out of each dollar raised went directly to the animals in need.

And to help them, she would have to come clean with her sister and deal with Lori's likely anger, because to simply go with Bobby Gray without letting Lori know first wouldn't be the principled thing to do. And she'd been taught about honor and principles since the day she'd been born.

"I don't need to ask her something, Dad. There's something I need to tell her."

Her father wisely said nothing, but she could see his mental wheels turning.

After the two of them finished off the carton of ice cream, she sauntered into the library to call her sister. Her jeans were a little snug after all that dessert, so she loosened the top snap before picking up the telephone receiver.

She dialed the number her father provided.

"
Guten tag
," said the female who answered the phone.

Kelli recognized the phrase as German, a language she'd never learned. She cleared her throat. "May I please speak with Lori Palmer?"

The woman answered back, "
Nein. No Palmer möbeldekorateur chimichanga
."

What? Did she hear something about decorating? Kelli narrowed her eyes. Something in that voice was too familiar. "Lori, is that you?"

"
Nein. No Lori.
Emergence, ya
?" said Lori, continuing with her fake German.

"
Nein,"
said Kelli. "I need to tell you about—"

"Muffle's cat," came Lori's reply, followed by the sound of the call being disconnected.

Muffle's cat
was a family code phrase meaning "I'm fine. I'll just have to get back with you later." Or in this case, it probably meant, "I'm fine. I just don't want to talk to you."

When they were kids, they'd had a German Shepherd named Muffles. When they'd gotten a new kitten, Muffles gave her a quick sniff, then scooped the animal up in her mouth. But rather than eating the kitten, Muffles carried her from room to room. Our mother rushed to remove the cat from Muffles mouth and offered her a treat, but the cat immediately pranced back over to Muffles for some more carrying. After that, the whole family started using the catch phrase.

But Kelli couldn't let the phrase keep her from doing what she had to do. She punched in the international number again. After several rings, the phone went directly to voice mail. Kelli left a message for Lori, telling her that in order to receive additional funding for the equestrian rescue agency, Kelli was going with Bobby Gray to meet his family. She disconnected the call, then placed the receiver on the table.

She couldn't understand why Lori refused to talk. Was it possible that Lori was sufficiently hurt to cut her sister off entirely? While Lori had been steamed on July Fourth, she didn't usually allow situations to fester.

Yet Kelli believed Bobby Gray when he insisted there wasn't anything between Lori and him. Kelli saw no indication that he misunderstood the relationship, either.

It made no sense.

And Abby and Dad weren't helping any, either, with the way they encouraged Kelli to go after Bobby Gray.

Her head throbbed from the stress and she slowly massaged her temples.

If Lori didn't want to know what was going on, that was her business. But Kelli felt an obligation to tell her, and had done so.

All this time, though, she'd been ignoring her own heart. She recollected the conversation she'd had with her mother, that it hadn't been easy for her parents to get together.

Was she going to allow her heart to break simply because Lori met Bobby Gray first?

She yanked up the phone again and dialed her sister once more. When voice mail answered, her words came tumbling out. "I need to tell you something else as well, Sis. You know I love you, but what if Bobby Gray is the man for me? I'll never find out if I don't follow my heart. I hope you'll forgive me, but I think I love him."

Her hands shook as she disconnected the call. She took a deep, steadying breath.

Did she love Bobby Gray? Everything inside her screamed that she did, no matter how risky it might be. He made her laugh at herself and not take everything so seriously. She loved his stubborn persistence, she loved the way he made her feel special and she especially loved the feeling of his lips on hers.

With new resolve, she straightened her shoulders. She'd told her sister what she needed to. She would go to College Station with Bobby Gray and not feel the least bit guilty.

Well, maybe only a little.

She hoped.

Chapter 12

Charlie stood in front of Bobby Gray with fists on hips, elbows bent and knees flexed as if she were about to launch herself into an attack. He knew he was in trouble.

How did he know this?

Through years of helping Monty Joe raise her. Charlie had always been a spitfire and a few years of marriage to Davis hadn't settled her down much, if any at all.

His usual way to handle her would be to pick her up by an ankle and dangle her, but he didn't think it would work for him in this instance. "Whaddid I say?"

"It's what you didn't say. Do you realize this is the first time you're bringing a girl home to meet the family?"

"So what? There's always gotta be a first time." Bobby Gray leaned against the door jam, displaying his best this-conversation-is-boring attitude.

"So—are you serious about her?"

It wasn't any business of his sister's how he felt about Kelli, so he tried to divert Charlie. "I'm serious about getting Monty Joe off my tail so I can go home, not that I'm not grateful for you putting me up. I miss my own pillow."

"You wouldn't miss anything if you hadn't misspent family money."

"I absolutely did not. I talked with David Bishop at the Owens ranch and when the foal is delivered, he'll take care of selling him, earning us ten times what I spent on stud fees."

"Only if the foal is a male—a stallion."

"He will be."

"You can't be sure."

"I could find out fast enough, but being a Nelson makes me sure and so should you be."

Charlie must have decided to change tactics, because she lowered her arms and her voice. "You should have asked Monty Joe first."

"Why? We all own the ranch and it's well past time for our brother to realize that I can help make good decisions around there. He's overworked and I'm experienced enough to take up the slack."

Charlie grinned and relaxed her stance. "You're right and it's about time you figured it out. I'm relieved you're finally aware enough of your skills and knowledge to own up to it."

Kelli had taught him that much about himself—he wasn't as stupid as he pretended to be. However, he hadn't realized Charlie thought that of him, too.

She gave his shoulder a fond punch. "So what about this girl? Kelli?"

He searched for something to tell his nosy sister that wouldn't be broadcasting more than he wanted to share. "She's a veterinarian."

Charlie raised one brow, as if waiting for him to continue.

He gave her a disgusted look, but still she waited. Finally he said, "She's a nice vet."

"That's it? That's all you've got for your only sister?" Her voice became singsong. "She's a nice animal doctor?"

Bobby Gray shrugged.

"So what's nice about her? What don't you like about her? Have you kissed, how long have you been dating? Give!"

He shook his head. "I don't know why you do this to me."

"That's what sisters do. And you know what brothers do?"

"Tolerate their bratty sisters?"

"Exactly. So answer my questions." She grinned broadly, because she knew she'd won the argument.

"We kissed. Once. She refuses to date me. Not," he quickly added after seeing Charlie's face light with mischievous glee, "because of the kiss, which she agreed rated high on the making-out scale. For other reasons. And you should be aware that getting her to come to dinner with me was a big deal." He crossed his arms.

"So she's not your run-of-the-mill rodeo groupie, throwing herself at you. This sounds especially interesting."

He glanced at his boots, then back up at Charlie. "I like the color of her eyes and the fact she also rescues aging horses."

Now Charlie's grin was almost cloying. "Ah. Brains and beauty."

He thought so, but he'd never admit it out loud and particularly never to his overly snoopy brat of a sister. "Is that enough to satisfy your sick craving for information you have no business asking about in the first place?"

His sister's nose climbed into the air. "I suppose it'll have to do—until Saturday."

That woke him up. He straightened off the door jam. "What happens Saturday?"

"I'll find out everything I need to know from Kelli during our flight down." Again the smug grin and Bobby Gray knew he was going to be in some grievous trouble once his sister and Kelli put their heads together.

* * *

Until today, Kelli hadn't disliked flying. She'd flown hundreds of times in the past with her family, racking up tens of thousands of miles from Dallas to some of the most exotic locations on earth, but she now knew she didn't like flying at all.

Now she realized she hated it.

It wasn't because of Davis Murphy's piloting skills. He was quite good.

It wasn't because of the way Charlie and Bobby Gray tried to help Davis and calm her.

It wasn't because of the plane itself. She'd flown on many small planes before.

No.

It was because she absolutely hated the word
turbulence
. She hated the word and the result of it.

She detested everything about it.

What kind of word was it anyway?

Turb?

What was that supposed to mean?

And the ending
u-lence
sounded an awful lot like in ambulance.

She should've bought a clue.

Quite obviously she'd been blessed in the past because none of her many flights had been as rocky as this one. Sure, she'd experienced a little rough weather, but nothing like this.

The plane gave another astronomical leap, sending her purse flying and launching small objects into levitating unnaturally, as if possessed by an angry sky demon. Leaning forward, she oh-so-casually grabbed Bobby Gray by the jugular and uttered, "Get me off this plane. Now!"

"Oh, you're fun," said Charlie. "I'm so glad you're bringing her home, Bobby Gray."

"You don't mind heading back tonight?" asked Bobby Gray conversationally, as if he weren't inches from death through strangulation. She eased her hold on him and some color returned to her fingertips.

"No. Assuming the bad weather has passed by then." Charlie gave Kelli a warm smile. "Davis needs to collect some papers from Monty Joe at dinner and then wants to return home tonight, too."

Between moans, Kelli listened to brother and sister chat and, if it hadn't been for the turmoil in her stomach, she'd have butted in on their conversation several times.

"You're the first girl Bobby Gray ever introduced me to. Or any member of our family to," Charlie had informed Kelli.

On one hand, Kelli was thrilled, because it meant Bobby Gray had strong feelings for her, too. On the other hand, she was almost certain that, after the message she had left for Lori, one sister was going to carve out the gizzard of the other, and Kelli was certain she knew which was which.

Assuming Kelli had a gizzard left after this flight.

But, since she'd had to inflict this possible pain on her sister, it was good to know it was for a real reason. It was good to know Bobby Gray cared about her, too.

Davis turned to smile at her and removed the right headset earpiece. "Good news, Kelli. We just got clearance to land."

"Thank God." Maybe she'd come out of this in one piece after all. But that was before another death-defying plummet as they came in for the landing.