Stone Cold Charade (A Stone Family Novel) (19 page)

“I might hold you to that,” Sam flung
over her shoulder, looking mockingly back at them.

“It would be worth it!” He beamed back
at the others.

Sam laughed at him as she finally fled
the room.

Tennessee cleared his throat. “Do you
think you could get one for my granddaughter Miss?” he asked hesitantly.

“I’ll make sure you get one Tennessee.”

“Well, I’m gonna hit the hay. Thanks
Miss. This was a nice end to a long and cold night,” Tennessee stated before he
left the room.

She realized the men had been on duty
all night and hadn’t been to bed yet. She smiled at Ridge as he too stood. “I
think that’s my cue.” He grabbed his jacket from the back of his chair before
heading to his room, winking at Alex as he passed.

“Don’t you have something to do?” Ty
snarled at Parry.

Parry just returned his unblinking stare
with one of his own. Maddeningly, Parry imitated a move used by teenagers in
movie theatres across America. Casually stretching his muscles by raising his
arms over his head, he laid his forearm over the back of Alex’s chair and
snuggled in closer, looking quite pleased with himself.

“You need to start laying the cable for
the security system. Plus, I need you to get the sensors ready for the cowhands
to place along the fences and on the gates. You’re here to do a job not entertain
yourself, or did you happen to forget I sign your paycheck?” he warned.

“Nope, I haven’t forgotten Boss.”

His gaze locked on Parry when Alex
finished her breakfast and she pushed her plate aside. Seeing the unveiled
threat in his gaze, he decided to get out while he still had a job, and his
limbs. “Maybe Boss is right,” he stammered, leaping for the door at almost a
dead run.

At Parry’s quick departure, she turned
toward Ty. “What did you do?” Alex accused.

“Nothing,” he claimed, looking at her
over the rim of his coffee cup. Seeing her move restlessly in her chair, Ty
glanced at his watch and knew he would have to head out too.

“I’m going to look over the break that
happened down by the north stream. Care to come with me?” Ty asked softly.

She was afraid she hadn’t heard him
correctly, and didn’t answer, just sat and looked quizzically at him.

“I’m taking an SUV, not a horse. Thought
you might like to go for a drive, it’s up to you,” he shrugged his shoulders.

“Why ask me in particular? Feeling
bored, is that it? You don’t even know me anymore, if you ever did.” Alex
actually enjoyed riding horses, having conquered her fears a long time ago.

“I know.” He could see Alex was bemused
that he had agreed with her. “This might give us a chance to get to know each
other again. I would like to finish this job and leave believing you and I had
become friends again, Alexandria.” He wanted her with him, not knowing how
lengthy this assignment was going to be, but craving as much time with her as
he could bargain. He had grieved the loss, the closeness they had once shared
after she had left home. He needed to understand the grown up Alex.

“Why should I trust you?” She tried to
judge his intentions by reading the expression on his face, seeing if he really
wanted her company or if it was just some kind of game he was playing.

“I want you to come because if you don’t
take a chance, you will never know if you can trust me,” he said steadily.
Reading the hesitation in her green eyes, knowing he needed to let her come to
him without pushing her; she had to take the lead for them this time.

“Ok,” she agreed reluctantly. “Do you
want me to have Martha pack us a lunch?” She was alarmed by the dawning
realization that her heart had answered instead of her head.

“Sure we’ll make a day of it. Meet me
out front in about a half hour?” Rising, he pushed in his chair and moved to
stand beside her, looking down. Her eyes looked huge in her small face. He was
staggered. Somehow she had decided to meet him halfway and she had done so willingly.
He was surprised, and from her expression so was she.

Alex was taking an enormous risk by
being alone with him. She was trusting that he would not humiliate her again.
He had a long way to go before she would be completely comfortable in his
presence, but it was a start, and that’s all he needed.

Longing to touch her, Ty knelt down next
to her chair. Reaching up, he touched her cheek, drawing her gaze to his. When
she didn’t shy away, he slowly let out the breath that he had been holding. He
had to tread lightly.

She watched his mouth as it closed the
distance to hers. She was powerless to stop him. Giving in to the temptation of
her mouth, he bent forward, never taking his eyes off of hers. He kissed her
mouth tenderly, as soft as a butterfly’s wing. Straightening, he smiled at her.

“Don’t worry so much, life has a way of
working things out. I know it’s hard, but you have to have faith in me little
one,” he whispered softly to her, and then drifted out of the room.

Alex stood on shaky legs and entered the
kitchen. About to ask Martha to prepare a picnic for them to take, she was
dumbfounded to find her already in the process of packing a wicker basket. She
looked up from her chore and gave Alex a speaking glance.

“That’s not for Ty and me is it?” she asked
in total disbelief.

“Well it’s not for the cowhands!”

“How did y…you,” Alex stammered. “Were
you eavesdropping?” she accused, “Is that how you and Emma get all your
‘intel’?”

“And if I was?” she questioned haughty,
lifting the basket and handing it to Alex, all the while looking down her nose
at her.

“Just checking.” She smiled sweetly at
her. She shrugged her shoulders and decided to back down, taking the basket,
she hoped she didn’t get an unexpected call from her grandmother.    

Placing her hand on her hips, Martha
sighed. “Look, I talked with your grandmother this morning and she told me some
things. Things that I think you have a right to know, even if it’s not my
place, but Ty’s to tell you.”

Here we go with a
lecture to stay away from Ty’s bed...
Alex thought rolling her eyes. But, Martha’s
words caused her heart to stop. “According to your grandmother, while he was
serving in the military his unit came under attack. He was injured, and a lot
of men under his command died.” Seeing the stricken look on Alex's face, Martha
was quick to continue and reassure her. “He wasn’t hurt seriously, but war can
change a man. Your grandmother claimed that after the incident, he became very
withdrawn and goal oriented. He turned very bitter and cold, not like the boy
she remembered.”

“You mean like Max?” Alex asked.

“Good God, No! Your grandmother wouldn’t
lump her worst enemy in that category,” she chuckled. “No, she just said that
the life kind of went out of him. He only cared about one thing and one thing
only, his business. However, the man I see has two things on his mind.” She
raised her eyebrow suggestively at Alex to see if she understood what she was
implying; that Alex was one of those things.

Intentionally misinterpreting the hint,
she asked smugly, “His business and driving me crazy?”

Shaking her head at Alex’s humor, she
warned, “Life has a way of passing you by. If you don’t run with life, one day
you may wake up and find its run you over. I was once a foolish young girl and
I let the man I love get away because I wasn’t prepared to make compromises.
Now, looking back, I should have trusted that our love would have gotten us
through.” Leaning forward, she gave Alex a quick hug.

After ending the embrace, she held Alex
at arm’s length. She could see sorrow in Martha’s old eyes, and regret. She
wanted to know more about the man that Martha, in all her years of knowing her,
hadn’t spoken of once, to her, or her sisters. When they had asked Martha why
she never married, she would consistently reply, “Because the five of you are
the children I always wanted. Turns out I didn’t need a man to give me that.”

“Who was he?”

“That’s not important, just that my only
chance passed me by. Nevertheless, yours is waiting out front for you. Someday,
I’ll tell you more. For now, you go have a little fun. You’ve got to live a
little, just not too much now. He is a handsome devil, if I do say so myself.
What Emma doesn’t know, I’m sure won’t hurt her, this time at least.” Humming
one of Fires love songs, Martha swung herself around in a quick circle and left
the kitchen.

Alex, stunned, was left standing there
with her mouth open, nearly dropping the picnic basket. She wondered if she had
entered some other dimension, because the woman who just left, was not the
Martha she knew.
She hates every man I socialized with, and makes a habit of
informing me of that fact as often as humanly possible.
She was baffled.
She had no clue what was going on inside that woman’s skull. For whatever crazy
reason, she was encouraging her to spend time with Ty.

She recovered quickly, adjusting her
grip on the basket, and headed out front. When Alex stepped out, Ty was leaning
patiently up against a black SUV. His hands in his pockets and a black Stetson
on his head, he watched her make her way towards him.

“Nice wheels. I was thinking about
getting one myself,” she commented, trying to choose a safe topic. He
straightened, taking his hands out of his pockets as she got closer.

“Thanks. I picked it up after my tour of
duty.” He took the basket and opened the door for her, guiding her into the cab
before placing the basket on the back seat. He could see she was puzzled,
surprised even, that he owned the SUV. “I didn’t rob a bank Tidbit,” knowing
that was not what had shocked her.

“I didn’t suggest that you had. I just
never thought I’d see you in something like this.” she gestured to the rig with
her hands. She knew how much he’d loved his old Mustang.

She watched him through the glass as he
gently closed her door and slid around the rig to climb up beside her in the
plush cab. The rich leather seats felt cool along her back, and the scent of
the leather tangy. Alex let her gaze roam around the spacious interior before
watching Ty slide behind the steering wheel.

“And what, pray tell, is wrong with me
driving a rig like this?” He was guessing that she believed she had hurt his
feeling by somehow implying that the rig didn’t fit his image, or bank account.

“I didn’t…” she stammered, sending a
distraught look at him. Seeing the laughter in his eyes, she realized he had
only been teasing her. She tried to remember the last time he had joked with
her good-naturedly.
It’s been years, not since before things fell apart
between us
, she thought, her heart wrenching in her chest.

“Don’t worry Alex, if I thought you were
implying anything snobbish I would have been sure to set you straight.” He
commented as he started the engine, amused that Alex’s cheeks heated despite
his assurances that he knew what she’d meant.

“Look, as you said earlier, we really
don’t know each other anymore. We haven’t been around each other for years.
Let’s call a ceasefire, take the day and get to know each other. If you’ll
promise to stop flying off the handle every time I open my mouth, I’ll try to
keep my hands to myself. Do we have a deal?” He smiled gently, inherently
knowing he was on a slippery slope.

“Okay, I’ll give it a shot,” she
promised, returning his alluring smile.

Trying to distract himself from the
impulse to touch her in order to prove she was actually sitting in his truck,
he inquired, “I haven’t seen anything in the papers lately about your sisters.
How are they doing?”

“Maxine’s running the hotel end of the
business now and Jacqueline runs the car end of things. She gives Max the most
fits, on a daily basis to tell the truth, especially with her driving! Plus,
every time Max tries to talk to Jack, she just puts him on speakerphone at the
office and walks out the door. It usually takes Max about an hour before he
realizes he’s talking to dead air.” She watched Ty laugh at the story, and
liked seeing him so relaxed. It was as it had been when they were friends.

“You’re right!” He chuckled. “Jack
always has given Max a headache. I think her first words were probably ‘you
wish’. How’s Jessica doing, she seems the odd one out. It seems like all of you
work for Max in one form or another, does she?” He glanced at her occasionally
while he drove along the back road to the north end of the property.

“Jesse works for Max, sort of. She
raises Arabians on one of the ranches up in Wyoming. She even has some Arabian
Prince interested in one of her prized horses,” she told him, openly watching
his face. She would never get enough of looking at him. With his attention on
the road, she could look her fill at his unguarded face. As he maneuvered the
vehicle, she noticed the confidence in his hands on the wheel, remembering how
it had felt having them run over her body.

“What about you grandfather? Martha
mentioned he was up to something?” He was delighted she chose to watch him
instead of the scenery.

“He’s fine. Supposedly off on some
hunting trip, but no one is buying it; Emma is trying to find out what scheme
he’s concocted this time. Grams worries when he goes off by himself. Thank God
Frank’s with him this time.” He stole a glance at her, seeing her laugh as she
looked over at him and felt the full impact of her features radiating her joy.