Crazy Little Thing Called Love (8 page)

“What gave it away the R8 or the
stilettos?”

Oh God why had she brought up the Audi? His
green eyes lit up with amusement and she cursed herself. She took
another drink and prayed her face wasn’t as red as it felt. Now
that she’d mentioned the car all she could think about was her
offer to let him drive it and her around if he wanted and his
refusal because he had big plans. Yeah, like going to a bar. Her
ego whimpered in a dark corner.

No doubt, Zach was the type of guy that could
and probably had been propositioned by most of the female
population of Fate. He was too good-looking for a town this size.
How he’d managed to get to…well, however old he was she was
guessing early thirties, without one of them nagging him down the
aisle was a testament to bachelor tendencies. And she was just
another of the admiring masses.

“I was going to say the lack of a car jack
but those work too.” He smirked, “Fate’s a small town but we do
have our attractions. Plenty of things to do for fun if you know
where to look.”

Her stomach clenched tight again at his
flirting tone and easy smile. The man was hazardous with the sexy
innuendo’s he kept tossing about. Still, he hadn’t taken her up on
her offer last time and she’d be an idiot to keep volleying
back.

“I’m only here for a few days, not much time
for fun.”

His eyes narrowed but a different voice
caught her attention.

“Can’t believe you’re leaving so soon. We all
thought you’d stay around a while, look after your Dad.”

Riley. She’d completely forgotten Riley West
was sitting beside her. Wow, that was some powerful mojo that Zach
worked over her. She’d have to be more careful if she ran into him
again before Sunday.

“I’m sorry. What?” She politely turned to the
younger West brother.

“I was just saying we figured you’d be
sticking around this time to take care of your Dad.”

Her head tilted curiously. The town thought
she should stick around and take care of her father? Since when?
And why did they think he needed taking care of?

“My Daddy’s been taking care of himself a
long time. Why would he need my help?”

Riley shrugged, “He’s just been sick for a
while now. We thought you’d come back when that happened. Guess
there’s no reason to think you’d stay now.”

She wasn’t sure if her face was beating red
from anger, embarrassment or frustration. She wasn’t sure it
mattered. All she knew was that for some reason the town of Fate
knew more about her father than she did and they seemed to think
she’d been a piss poor daughter by not coming home sooner to be by
his side.

Damn it. Damn him. She’d known something was
wrong but had he opened up and told her about it? Had he asked her
to come home or even called to let her know he’d been sick? Of
course not, because Lyle Carter wouldn’t know the first thing about
taking care of family first.

“I um… excuse me.” She tried to shoot to her
feet and knocked over the leftover beer.

“Whoa easy there.” Riley grabbed her arm to
steady her, “I didn’t mean to upset you. I’m sorry.”

“Don’t worry about it. I have to go.” She
ducked out of his reach and gave Zach a final glance, “Thanks again
for your help with the car.”

She was sure Riley hadn’t meant anything by
his statement. It was completely harmless small-town gossip really
but it just confirmed all of her worst fears. Her father was sick.
He’d been sick for a while and he hadn’t told her about it. Worse,
the entire town seemed to think she knew about it and had abandoned
him in his time of need. And she’d been worried about the gossip of
coming home single? That was the least of her concerns now.

Zach watched Bluebell as she grabbed her
purse and slung it over her shoulder. Her face and neck were
flushed a light crimson. Her big blue eyes looked glassy and he’d
have sworn he saw her bottom lip tremble before she steeled her
shoulders back and marched out of the bar.

She was upset. He couldn’t read if it was
anger or pain but Riley had obviously hit a nerve. If he was one of
the good guys he’d probably go after her, apologize for his dipshit
little brother’s rude comments and think of something nice to say.
But since nobody had ever made the mistake of labeling him one of
the good guys he watched her go and held his tongue.

Still, he couldn’t help watching her leave.
Her blonde hair swinging, that short navy dress swaying around her
slim thighs. Those sexy ass heels she’d been wearing earlier on the
side of the road clicked on the hardwood floors and he had to
adjust his jeans. The woman might be all kinds of difficult but she
was damn pretty.

“What’d I say?”

He resisted the urge to smack Riley across
the back of the head, barely, “And you’re supposed to be the smart
one? Her daddy’s sick and you thought that was a good topic of
conversation?”

“Oh…” Riley looked to where the door was
swinging shut, “I was just making small-talk. Should I go after her
and apologize?”

“No.” Zach growled at the idea of Riley
chasing her down and then shook away that reaction, “No, let her
go. She probably just needs some time alone.”

“Yeah okay.” Riley lifted his beer to his
lips, “Knew I never should have called you over, it was going
pretty well up until you showed up.”

“Uh huh. I’m sure.”

He’d once had that youthful ego Riley was so
good at so he didn’t read a lot into the idea that Bluebell had
actually been interested in the kid. Even if she had been, outing
her sick Daddy hadn’t done Riley any favors. He’d have grinned at
the impossibility of his youngest brother even getting close to a
chance with a woman like her if it didn’t also make him
irrationally annoyed.

“I’m going to head out. You want to go?”

“Nah. Think I’ll have another beer.” He shook
his head.

The idea of going back to the ranch still
wasn’t sitting well with him. He’d driven around for half an hour
earlier before his anger subsided and he retreated to the house to
apologize to his mother. She’d been long gone though so he’d
showered, changed and left again as quickly as he could.

“Trolling? Want a wingman?”

He snorted. The only woman in the room he’d
had even a slight interest in seeing naked his little brother had
just driven from the premises in a cloud of tears. He didn’t need
any more help in that department.

“Nah, just a beer and I’ll head that
way.”

Riley nodded and disappeared into the crowd
while he sucked down the last of his beer and headed to the bar for
another. He needed some time away from the ranch to think. He had
no intention of walking away from it but the more he had time to
think the more he wondered if it wasn’t the right decision to let
his brothers take the reins and guide the future.

He could climb atop a stool and fend off the
advances of women he had no interest in or he could get out of
dodge. He ordered a bottle of water, washed it down and headed out
once he was sure Riley was long gone. He slipped into his Ford and
flipped on the radio at the same time he turned up the music and
rolled the windows down.

There was nothing like the feeling of freedom
he got rolling across the highway just a little bit faster than the
speed limit allowed. It had always been that way. He liked the
freedom, though he’d never really felt free, not since he was a
teenager and the world was set in front of him like a pearl.

It’d closed on him but he didn’t blame
anybody in particular for that. People died every day. People lost
their loved ones all the time. His dad had died and he’d stepped
up. It was just the way life worked out.

He didn’t hate his life. He loved Fate. He
didn’t see himself ever living anywhere else. He never had. But the
fact he’d been given less of a choice in it had always irked
him.

As long as he stayed busy, as long as he
worked and did what was expected it never overpowered him so that’s
what he did. If he was busy counting cattle, branding and working
he didn’t have to think about what he’d rather be doing. He liked
it that way.

It was the slower times, times like now when
the ranch practically ran itself that he started to question his
life plan, that he started to get restless. That was probably a
decent enough reason for why he’d started carving up his childhood
home. It didn’t have to mean more than that.

He caught sight of the night sky and felt at
home for the first time in a few days. Fate was always going to be
his home. This place with its silly gossip and small-town drama was
where he belonged. Hitting the road always reinforced that.

Sometimes, when he set out for a drive in the
dead of night, needing to move, needing to be anywhere but sitting
still and thinking his thoughts drifted to that day. He’d barely
been eighteen and just a senior in high school when the call came
over the intercom that the principal wanted to see him. He’d been
in that office a half dozen times but he hadn’t skipped school or
been caught smoking in the bathroom in a while so he’d wrongly
assumed it had something to do with one of his brothers. Principal
Rangier had been the one to tell him to collect his things and go
to the hospital. It was his father.

The rest of that day was a blur. Riley crying
in the hallway of the hospital. His mother collapsing when the
doctor gave them the horrible news. Devin turning to stone before
his eyes and simply sinking into a chair, staying silent for what
felt like days.

The next thing he’d known he came to not
knowing how much time had past but feeling the weight of the
responsibility on his shoulders. His college scholarship was
forgotten. He got his diploma and got on the tractor. He made sure
his mother remembered to eat and his brothers did their homework.
He’d gone to bed a kid and woke up an adult.

Now he was thirty-six years old and his
brothers were adults too. They wanted to take control. They wanted
to call the shots for once. He wasn’t sure he knew how to let
them.

For the first time since he was that eighteen
year old kid he felt lost. He hated that feeling, hated feeling
weak and useless. He needed a purpose, a distraction.

So he’d done the only thing he could do. He
tore apart his house and set about fixing it. He could control the
construction, the demolition and the rebuilding. It gave him
something to do with his hands and a way to turn his brain off for
a few hours. He enjoyed it but that didn’t mean he was turning his
back on the ranch or his family.

Still, the idea of leaving behind the
rancher’s world did have its appeal. He didn’t have to leave for
good. Fate was his home, the ranch was his home. But if Devin and
Riley wanted to take over the day to day operations maybe that
wasn’t such a terrible thing.

Zach was good at taking care of people. He
was good at making sure things got done. Maybe it was time to take
a step back and see if he was good at anything else.

“You may kiss your bride.”

Blue watched Molly’s new husband bend her
over his arm and lay a big smacking kiss on her. Something
tightened in her chest. Not jealousy, just a small twitch of
envy.

Someday she’d like to stand in front of a
minister and a room full of gossipy people that’d known her since
she was born and promise to love a good man forever and ever.
Watching the newly married Molly flush and giggle and beam was just
a reminder of how far she was from her own happily ever after. She
painted her best fake smile across her face and followed the happy
couple back down the aisle.

She’d been using her fake smile all day but
nobody seemed to notice. Today wasn’t about her and despite the
occasional whispering she’d noticed as Woody led her down the aisle
to stand at the front of the First Baptist Church, she’d mostly
gone invisible. For that much she was thankful.

She’d felt eyes on her the entire time she
stood at the altar but she’d managed to keep her chin up and her
attention on the happy couple. It helped that Molly’s younger
sister Maddie had been crying her eyes out. She kept sniffling and
muttering something about happily ever after. Blue tried to console
the girl but she’d insisted they were tears of joy, whatever that
meant. As it was she took some of the spotlight off Blue and for
that she liked the girl.

The tangerine disaster of a dress was
hideous. She was tucked into it the best her strapless bra would
allow but even still her cleavage was on full display. She’d never
considered herself well-endowed. She had a decent set that matched
her frame but she rarely hung out of clothing and despite pulling
the top up repeatedly she was definitely hanging out.

It was a small victory that the other
bridesmaids seemed to be having the same problem. The prom dress
from hell didn’t look good on the voluptuous cousins or the
stick-thin sister either. If she hadn’t known Molly was the least
vindictive person on the planet she’d have thought the dress was
some sort of payback for kissing Todd Lovett in the eighth grade
knowing full well Molly had liked him.

“Ready for the party?” Woody asked as they
cleared the back of the church.

“Oh yeah.” She nodded and kept her fake smile
firmly in place.

She could use a glass of wine. That was the
only part of the party she was looking forward to. The rest of her
wanted to race to the back room where her purse was waiting, burn
the God awful dress, grab the Audi keys and get out of town.

Which she couldn’t do, she reminded herself
for the thousandth time. Even if she didn’t have to play the doting
bridesmaid for another hour or so at the reception she wasn’t
leaving Fate until she cornered her father and made him talk to
her. Lord knew how long that’d take.