Texas Hustle (13 page)

“I can see that. Where’s home?”

“Everywhere. My parents were military, so we pretty much lived in a million places. They’ve retired to Florida. My sister and her family live in Wichita, Kansas, but I’ve never lived in either of those places. So I guess that leaves my moving options wide open.” She smiled and Porchia thought it was the saddest smile she’d ever seen.

“How’d you meet Jason?”

“I was a resident. He was on a double date with another couple. They were hit by a drunk driver. All four of them were brought to Emergency to be seen. His date was some prissy little thing who kept yelling, ‘Do you know who I am?’ Her daddy was a state senator from a small community, and I guess she was used to being top dog. After she yelled that the fourth time, I looked into her room and said, ‘Yes, I know who you are, but if you don’t, I can get Neuro and Psych down here for a consult.’ That shut her up.”

Porchia laughed. “Then what?”

“Her parents arrived at Emergency and acted almost as bad as she did. They demanded a plastic surgeon to sew up the small cut over her eye. No one but a plastic surgeon would do since they wanted to make sure she didn’t have a scar.” Lydia rolled her eyes. “She wouldn’t have had one anyway, but we got a plastics resident to come in and sew her up. She left with her parents. Jason needed a few stitches in his chin and over his eye. When I was done with him, he asked me out. I told him I still had six hours left on my shift.” She glanced over. “I figured that would be the last time I saw him, but six hours later when I got off, there he was in the waiting room. The desk clerk told me he’d been there the whole time waiting for me. How could I not go have breakfast with him?”

“Wow. That’s determination. Is it really over between you guys? I can’t believe that it is.”

Tears glistened in Lydia’s eyes. “I think so. This is what he wants so…” She shrugged. “If you’ll excuse me.” Her voice was clogged with tears, and it broke Porchia’s heart to hear how much she was suffering from the break-up. Lydia stood and hurried over to her boots. After shoving in her feet, she ran from the porch.

If she and Darren got together and it didn’t work…well, a Lydia-style heartache was exactly what Porchia wanted to avoid.

“Hey, darlin’. Ready to eat?”

Porchia turned toward Darren, who was walking toward the lodge. Should she risk her heart with him? Was he serious about her or had all her refusals just made her forbidden fruit? After all, when she did open up last night, hadn’t he run to the living room to sleep?

“Starved,” she replied, relationship questions still bouncing around in her head.

Chapter Ten

Darren knew something was still on Porchia’s mind. It wasn’t the words she used, or the tone of her voice, or even how she stood or sat. But still, he knew something was there. Since he’d decided she was the one he wanted, he wouldn’t push her, not yet. A skittish woman was like a skittish colt. Both had trust issues.

“I was thinking after lunch, we could take a couple of horses out for some exercise,” Darren said to Porchia as they ate.

“I don’t know if I’ll have time. I’ll have to check with your mom and Jackie. We’ve still got a couple of hours of work with the rolls. They’re planning some fancy dinner to celebrate Paige and Cash’s wedding, and I might need to help with that.” She wrinkled her nose. “Sorry.”

Putting his arm on the back of her chair, he leaned in and kissed the tip of her pert nose. The scent of fresh lavender tickled his olfactory nerve and he liked it. He drew in another breath. The aroma was wreaking havoc on his senses, not that he minded one iota. “No problem. This is only the second day of our vacation. We have a whole week to ride or hike or do anything we want.”

“Thanks. If I don’t have to help with dinner, I should be done in a couple of hours.”

“Hey, Mom,” Darren called to Nadine. “Can I get Porchia off dinner duty tonight?”

“Darren!” Porchia elbowed him. “Stop it.”

Nadine turned toward her son with a knowing smile. “Your father and Lane will be cooking the prime rib on the grill. Caroline and Lydia have volunteered to help Jackie and me tonight, so she’s all yours.”

If only.

“Thanks, Mom.” He turned his smile back to Porchia. “You heard her. You’re all mine this afternoon.”

She swallowed and arched her brows. “I guess so.”

After lunch, Darren left Porchia in the big kitchen with the other women to do something called punching down the dough. He had no idea what that meant, and he didn’t really want to.

Reno and Magda roared back into camp on her bike about an hour later.

“Where you two been?” he asked his brother as Reno climbed off the bike.

“Took a long drive to see the leaves.”

Darren frowned. “You’ve been gone for hours.”

“Yeah, we stopped at a couple of stores, had some lunch, and you know how it is. Time just got away from us. Anything going on here?”

“I’ll let you two catch up,” Magda said. “I’m going to look for Porchia.”

“She’s at the lodge making rolls or something,” Darren told her.

“Great. Thanks.” She planted a long kiss on Reno. “Catch you later, hunky man.” After giving Reno’s ass a couple of pats, she headed off for the lodge.

“Man, she’s the best,” Reno said, a broad grin stretched across his face.

“Yeah, I’m glad you two worked it out. I’m headed to find Travis about taking a couple of horses out this afternoon. Want to come along?”

“You go ahead. I’m headed to my cabin for a nap.”

“A nap? You sick?”

Reno yawned. “Let’s just say that I didn’t get a lot of sleep last night.”

“Got it. Catch you later.”

Travis was more than happy to loan Darren a couple of horses.

“These guys need some exercise,” he explained. “I’m not worried about you, but how much riding has Porchia done?”

Darren cocked up the corner of his mouth as he thought about it. “I don’t know,” he finally confessed. “We’ve haven’t talked about it. She seems comfortable around horses when I’ve seen her near them, but I don’t know that she’s had any riding experience at all. But we’re not going far and I’ll keep the pace at a walk.”

“Fine. Why don’t you ride Trailblazer? He’s new to my stable and I’d love to know what you think about him. I haven’t gelded him yet. He’s young. Maybe good breeding stock for my cutting horses.”

Darren looked at the chestnut-colored stallion Travis was indicating with his thumb. He was a beauty. A silky black mane and black socks on all four legs set off his brown coloring.

“Love to. He’s definitely got the cocky look of most of your cutting horses,” Darren said.

Travis laughed. “My horses have a cocky look?”

“Oh, hell yeah. Like they all think their shit don’t stink.”

Travis continued to laugh. “Yeah, well, I can assure you, all their shit stinks.”

That made Darren grin. “Which one for Porchia?”

“Hmm. I think maybe Oreo.” Travis pointed to a black and white horse standing apart from the other horses. “She’s sweet but a little timid. I’m not sure what I’m going to do with her. Caroline rescued her from a horse sale we were attending. The owners were elderly and I think she might have been mistreated or ignored. But I’d love to know what you think about her too.”

“Great. We’ll take them this afternoon for a short ride. If Porchia does okay with the horse, I think I’ll want them in the morning. Early in the morning,” he clarified. “A daybreak ride.”

“Sure.”

Travis showed Darren where all the tack was and the guys spent almost an hour talking horses. It was close to three by the time Darren wandered back up to his cabin. Porchia sat in the swing, one foot tucked under her while using the other to rock.

“You done with the rolls?”

She nodded. “Yes. They are going through their second rise. All they’ll need is to be baked and I’m not needed for that.”

Darren climbed the stairs. “Scoot over.” Sitting down, he ran his arm along the top board of the swing back. “You check on Heavenly Delights today? Nothing blow up?”

She didn’t laugh or even chuckle at his joke. Instead, a look of concern flashed and then was gone.

“I did. Tina says everything’s fine. Sales are off a little, but I think that’s because you’re here and not in Whispering Springs buying all my goodies.”

His mouth twitched. “Well, now, I thought I was buying fritters all this time. You mean you had goodies for sale too?”

She elbowed his gut. “Goose,” she said with a laugh. “Everything is fine. Seems odd though.”

“What?”

“Not going to work.” She set the swing in motion. “I’ve been getting up early with the bakery for years. Sleeping until the sun’s up seems like such a luxury.”

“So you’re having fun then?” He held his breath for her answer. He knew she’d say yes because she was the kind of person who wouldn’t want to hurt his feelings. But he wanted to hear her say it.

“I am. I’ll admit that all those Montgomery women exhaust me. Where do they get all that energy?”

“Years of putting up with the men, I’d guess. Want to get away for a little while? Travis has a couple of horses he’d like us to exercise.”

“Um, I guess so.”

“Now, don’t worry,” he said, his hand on her knee. “We’ll go slow. I’ll show you everything you need to know about riding. I’m a great teacher.”

She looked at him, her lips twitching like they wanted to break into a smile.

“What?” he asked. “I am.”

“Oh, I bet,” she said and hiked her eyebrows. “I’m thinking you’ve taught quite a few girls how to ride. And I don’t necessarily mean horses.”

“Jealous?” He pulled his arm off the swing back and around her shoulders.

“Should I be?”

“Never. None of them ever held a candle to you.”

Pink tinged her creeks. “That’s a sweet thing to say.”

“Come on.” He stood and pulled her to her feet. “Put on some jeans and boots and let’s go.”

They walked down to the stable where the tack was stored. Darren had set some out earlier, knowing he’d need it for this afternoon ride.

“You want some help with the saddles?” she asked.

A new rider could take forever to get a saddle on tight enough. He knew that the woman he would spend his life with would have to be able to saddle and ride her own horse, but today, he didn’t have the patience to teach her. He was in a hurry to get her alone. Maybe impress her a little with some of his riding style.

There might be some time next week when he could spend more time teaching her.

“That’s nice of you, but it’ll be quicker if I do it the first time. But I’ll explain what I’m doing as I go.”

She chuckled. “Sure thing, boss.”

Darren explained each step of the saddling process as he did it. He loved how she watched closely, following each step with fascination. She didn’t ask questions but nodded when he asked if she understood what he was explaining.

“This is Oreo. She’s new to Travis’s barn, but she seems gentle enough. You want to stroke her neck. She’d like that.”

Porchia climbed down from the fence railing where she’d been sitting watching him.

“Hello, Oreo. You’re a pretty lady,” she cooed to the horse. “Tell me about your horse.”

“That would be Trailblazer.”

Porchia walked over to his chestnut stallion. “Well, aren’t you a handsome guy.”

“Careful, honey. Stallions can be unpredictable and hard to handle.”

“So I can’t ride him? But he’s so gorgeous.”

“No, you can’t. You’re riding Oreo.”

“Can I at least sit on him? He’s so tall. How many hands?”

Darren looked at her. “You know how horse height is measured?”

She shrugged. “I might have heard a cowboy or two mention it. Something about hands.”

He nodded. “Right. He’s seventeen hands.”

“Wow. That’s big, huh?”

“Yep. Now, you ready to get on Oreo?”

“You sure I can’t ride Trailblazer? He seems to like me.”

“Damn sure.”

She blew out a long sigh. “Fine.” She walked back to Oreo. “Not to worry. I was just pulling his chain. You’re a fine gal.”

Darren shook his head. Women. He would never understand how their brains worked if he lived to be a hundred.

“Okay then,” he said. “Put your foot in this stirrup. Step up and lift your right leg across her back. Here. Wait. I’ll help you.”

“I think I can do it, Darren.”

“Still, I think you might want a little help this first time.” Wrapping his hands around her waist, he waited until he felt her begin to lift herself. Then he gave her a little boost.

She swung her leg over Oreo’s back and settled into the saddle.

“Great job,” Darren praised. “Let me adjust your stirrup to the right height.”

Her stirrups were just fine, but adjusting them gave Darren the chance to run his hand up her well-developed, muscular calf. Her tight jeans showcased her legs to such a degree that most of his blood began rushing below his belt. Time to stop touching her, or else his ride would be more than uncomfortable.