Echoes From The Past (Women of Character) (19 page)

"Not anymore."

"I’d have to think
about." Was she crazy? Give him an inch he’d take a mile ...

Randy leaned close and dropped a
kiss on her mouth.

Ally stared at his face so close,
his expression very, very serious. Almost against her will she leaned forward
for another kiss. As she touched his mouth Ally found she liked it too much.
She was suddenly full of heat and wanting. Ally pulled back. With despair, she
watched the flecks in Randy’s eyes deepen and the funny, squirmy feeling in her
stomach intensified.

"I’m not into casual,"
she said. "Everything about you is casual." Resisting the urge to
touch her burning lips, she took several steps back the way they’d come.

"I can change," he said.

Ally sent him a doubtful look over
her shoulder. "I’m interested in someone who’ll be around for the long
haul. I plan on having kids and my own small farm." She stared at him with
a jaded eye. "You’ve never struck me as a nine-to-five guy. Kind of like
putting a round peg in a square hole." On the up side, she found him sexy
and so much fun, but that she kept to herself.

"Sounds like you want
boring." His mouth turned down.

"Look at your brother. He’s
steady but no woman would ever say he’s boring."

"Maybe you need my
brother."

"Garrett and I are
friends."

"I know." A cleft came
and went in his cheek. "But I couldn’t resist teasing you."

Ally rolled her eyes and started laughing.
With a small amount of despair, she wondered what drew her to this man.

At the base of a steep incline,
Randy held out his hand. She looked at it, square, the fingers blunt and
strong. Ally slipped hers into it and felt an unfamiliar sense of inevitability
and comfort ... excitement and coming home. Crazy.

"My mother always said men
and cats don’t change their stripes."

"Maybe you should ignore your
mother’s bit of wisdom this time around."

She moved closer and tilted her
head back to Randy. Tentatively, she touched his cheek with her palm.
"Sometimes temptation is hard to ignore." Despite all wisdom to the
contrary, Ally wanted something more than her dull, safe life. So when Randy
lowered his head slowly to her, she met him half way, knowing he would provide
just what she needed in that moment.  As for the future, she had no idea.

###

When Christie walked outside the
barn early the next morning she saw Hannah sitting in her tire swing slowly
swinging back and forth. When Hannah spotted her she left the swing and came
toward her.

Christie braced herself. She’d
seen Hannah’s face the other night when Garrett had kissed her. The child had
not been happy. She put down the rubber water buckets she’d carried outside and
began to scrub them with a brush.

Aware that Hannah stopped just
behind her, Christie turned sideways and directed a glance at the child, with a
small smile. "Hi. You’re up early."

"Daddy said I got up before
the birds this morning." Hannah pushed back the powder blue hood of her
jacket. "We had breakfast together. I saved you a donut." She pulled
a slightly crumbled doughnut in a plastic bag from her jacket pocket.

Surprised, Christie stopped
scrubbing. "How did you know chocolate is my favorite?"

"You always eat
chocolate."

"That’s nice of you to save
me one. I’ll eat it when I finish my chores." Christie bit her lip
indecisively, wondering if she dared extend the hand of friendship one step
further. "You’ll never guess who’s been visiting my place."

Hannah looked inquisitive.
Interestingly, Christie didn’t sense any of the earlier hostility. "Your
cat Albert."

"But how did he get in?"
Hannah asked with delight.

Christie thought about dodging
that question, then decided against it. She squatted down on her heels.
"It’s a long story, but I leave my door open. I think Albert caught the
scent of a snack I was cooking and he came to visit. He’s been stopping by all
week. He’s quite made himself at home."

Hannah played with the zipper on
her jacket. "Maybe I could see him sometime," she said.

"Sure." Feeling elated
at Hannah’s apparent turnaround, Christie continued to scrub the buckets.
"I bet he’d like that."

After a long silence, Hannah asked
hesitantly, "Why do you leave your door open?"

Christie’s hands stilled. She
looked into inquisitive eyes. "Do you have a night light in your
room?" she asked.

"It’s an old one. I used to
be afraid of the dark."

"Well, leaving my door open
is like a night light for me. It’s my security. If I want to leave, I can walk
out that door anytime." Christie looked around, but they were alone.
"I’m afraid of being stuck inside," she admitted in a low voice.
"When I was small I used to hide in a closet with my sister Ellen."

"Weren’t you afraid?"

"Yes. But I was more
frightened of what was outside the closet." She stood up, needing to move
around.

"Were you afraid of
monsters?"

Christie hedged around the truth.
"Yes, I was afraid of monsters. Now that I’m older I know there are no
monsters, but I still like to have the door open."

"I used to be afraid, but Daddy
made the monsters go away."

She smiled at Hannah. "That’s
what the best dads do."

"Did your dad make the
monsters go away?"

Christie couldn’t tell her that he
was the monster they hid from in the closet. "All good dads chase them
off."

"Daddy says he doesn’t know
much about girls."

"He knows how to love you. My
parents didn’t know how to care about each other, or about my sister and me.
Your dad’s way ahead of the game."

"My mom said if you depend on
yourself, you’ll never be disappointed."

Christie thought how sad that
sounded. "Sometimes it’s okay to let others help you and care about
you."

Hannah tilted her head to the
side. "Daddy said Mommy was your sister."

It took Christie a moment to
realize what she’d said. Her heart beat loudly in her chest. "Yes. I was
younger than you when your mom left home. I never really knew her."

"That’s sad," Hannah
said. "That you never knew Mommy and she was your sister."

The tightness in Christie’s chest
wanted to break loose. She picked up the buckets and moved back into the barn.
"Now I have to get back to work."

"I’m going to read a
book," Hannah said, falling into step behind her. She detoured into the
office as Christie entered each stall and snapped the buckets back in place.

When Christie walked by with a new
collection of buckets, she saw Hannah rifling through several books in
Garrett’s desk by the tack room door. Another facet of Garrett revealed. He
kept books on hand for his daughter.

Christie stopped in the doorway.
"Won’t your dad be wondering where you are?"

"The rule is I can be in the
barn or by the house, so Daddy will know where I am. I’m going to read in my
favorite place." Hannah looked at her with bright eyes. "Come on,
I’ll show you." Hesitantly, she reached out her hand toward Christie.
Christie put down her buckets and grasped the small hand. They walked down the
barn aisle to an open doorway on the left. She kept waiting for the bubble to
burst, but Hannah kept reaching out to her.

Christie flicked the light switch
and looked inside the room at the bales of golden straw. "I love the way
this room smells. This is a perfect place to read!" she declared, bringing
a smile to Hannah's face. The child settled on a broken bale of straw. With her
blond hair all wispy around her face, she looked adorable and so young.

"You can read with me,"
Hannah said quietly. "If you want to."

Christie felt an actual pain,
recalling the times she’d curled up on the couch with Eric and read his
favorite book.

"Well," Christie said
cautiously, "only for a few minutes. I have a few chores to finish."

Christie sat beside Hannah.
Wriggling around a bit, she extracted a piece of straw from where it had worked
its way under her shirt.

Hannah became engrossed in the
story, and Christie enjoyed just spending time with her. At one point she
looked up to find Garrett standing in the doorway. She snuck a look at her
watch upon seeing the stern expression on his face.

"Hannah, I’ve been looking
for you," he said quietly, his sharp glance seeming to see everything.
"I’ve been calling." Self-consciously, Christie straightened her
legs. Unbidden, thoughts of their last, brief kiss came to mind. A rush of
emotion flared, causing butterflies to flit through her stomach. When she
stared at Garrett and saw the hint of color on his cheekbones, her stomach
started a wild fluttering. She wondered if he was remembering too.

"I didn’t hear you, Daddy. Me
and Christie were reading. You said I could read while I waited for you."

"I thought you meant in the
house." Garrett turned his head toward Christie. "Good morning,
Christie," His mouth curved. "You've got straw in your hair."

"Oh." Christie ran her
fingers through her hair. She allowed her glance to linger on him, a melting
deep in her chest. He looked so big standing in the doorway. Hannah left her
side and moved to her father’s side. Garrett stood with a hand on his
daughter's shoulder as Hannah showed him the books they were reading. Garrett
was good with kids, he was the type of man who should have several more.

He wore a lightweight camel-colored
corduroy jacket, a deep green shirt with thin black stripes and black jeans.
Droplets of water spotted his cowboy hat and shoulders.

He was an attractive man, a
cowgirl’s dream. And a city girl’s dream, a wicked voice whispered to Christie.
"It’s raining!" Christie blurted, stating the obvious.

Garrett casually ruffled his
daughter’s hair. "It just began. The weather forecast says it’s only
supposed to shower this morning. Would you like to ride to town? I can show you
around. I can show you where Judith is buried, if you like."

"Sure," she said, caught
by surprise. "I would like that."

He gave her a measured look.
"If you’d like my help, maybe together we can find a place for your
sister’s ashes."

Garrett removed his hat and shook the
water droplets from it. "I know this area like the back of my hand. I’m
sure we can find somewhere suitable for what you’re looking for."

"Then I accept your offer.
Thank you," she added softly. The rational part of her brain pointed out
he might be anxious to see the last of her. The romantic part of her said he
just might want to spend time with her.

Christie brushed loose bits of
straw from her jeans. "I can leave when Ally gets in to work. I told her
I’d fill in for an hour."

He smiled. "She’s at the
house getting some coffee. I think she had a late night. She’s kind of out of
sorts today."

"Okay, then I guess we can
leave any time." Christie walked toward Garrett and Hannah, then went down
on one knee to brush the straw from Hannah's jeans.

"There’s straw in your
hair," Hannah said with a giggle, pointing a finger up at her.

###

Garrett watched Christie bend over
and shake her hair out, then finger comb the dark strands. Her hair flowed
forward, exposing the nape of her neck and the wispy, baby fine hairs. Garrett
wondered when he had ever been so tempted to take something he wanted. This
gentle woman with the sad dark eyes. He found himself intrigued by her. He
wasn’t anxious for her to leave, yet he knew it was inevitable.

"Is that better?" came
her muffled voice.

Garrett stepped closer, his boots
sinking into the pale straw. He cleared his throat. "Let me help." He
plucked out several more bits, unable to keep his fingers from lingering in the
silky strands.

Christie straightened slowly.
Garrett watched her dark eyes move up his legs and over his jeans, then up his
chest. It felt like an intimate caress and his body responded embarrassingly
fast.

"That must be it," she
said quickly. "I don’t feel any more."

"A couple more," he
murmured, torturing himself with her closeness. He plucked the last of the
straw, lightly fluffed the hair and then smoothed a hand over it before
stepping back. "That's it." His voice sounded hoarse to his ears.
Garrett wondered if he was the only one feeling the sizzle of attraction. He
reined in his thoughts. He had told her acting on the attraction wasn’t a good
idea. He had to at least try to keep to his word.

"Christie, you need a
jacket," Hannah observed.

"I’m fine," Christie
said.

They all walked down the barn
aisle toward the outer barn door. Christie stood in front of Garrett, Hannah at
his side. As the teeming rain blew in through the open door, Garrett noticed
the shiver that shook Christie’s slender frame.

"You can’t go out like
that," he said. "You’ll be soaked." He pulled his jacket off and
slid it over her shoulders. For the briefest moment, she leaned back, her
shoulder touching his chest. Garrett clamped his jaw as desire bit at him hard
and fast. He wanted to do more than touch her shoulders.

Christie turned quickly, her
fingers catching the lightweight jacket before it could slide to the ground.
"I can’t take your jacket," she protested.

"Wear it." He closed his
fingers around hers when she would have taken it off. "I have another one
in my truck. Wait here and I'll bring the truck closer."

Garrett darted out into the rain
and climbed in his truck which he’d had the foresight to park close to the
barn. He drove next to the open door where Christie and his daughter waited and
placed the truck in park. Leaning across the seat, he pushed open the passenger
door.

Garrett watched Christie put her
arms in the sleeves of his jacket and bury her nose in the flannel lining.
Garrett clenched his jaw, thinking he’d like to be inside that damned jacket
where her nose was buried.