The Convent Rose (The Roses) (17 page)

Eve rose up beside him and looked into his eyes. Her genuine joy for him made his heart clench, and his view of her naked breasts made his dick twitch despite his total depletion. Give him a half hour and maybe.

“I’m so happy for you if it’s true.”

“He looks so much like me he could be my brother if he wasn’t so old.” Bodey pointed to his face. “The whole clan has these eyes.”

“Now you’re not alone.”

“There’s a difference between alone and lonely. A family in Fort Worth doesn’t take care of the lonely.” Bodey stroked Eve’s hair and held her close. She shifted in his arms.

“Don’t run off,” he said.

“Bathroom,” she answered.

“Oh, in that case, run.”

He released her and watched while she tugged on enough clothes to pass through the courtyard with modesty. Bodey stretched and felt a twinge in his back. He got up more awkwardly than he would have liked and bent to straighten the drop cloth. Eve doubled over with a deep laugh. She pointed a finger.

“Paint spots. Veridian becomes you, and that blotch of alizarin crimson on your shoulder is better than a tattoo.”

No matter which way he turned, he couldn’t see the reasons for her hilarity. Eve laughed harder. Giving up, he shrugged. “This stuff wash off?”

“Yes, it’s acrylic paint. Come with me. I’ll wash your back.”

“Now we’re talkin’, and when we’re through in the bathroom, I’d like you to go back to the ranch with me and take a look at some livestock I bought.”

“The mean cows? I’m no judge of cattle, Bodey,” Eve answered, still laughing.

“Oh, I think you’ll like this particular critter, but for now, let’s check out your shower.”

****

By the time Eve and Bodey learned that her tub was, indeed, big enough for two, they were sexually satiated and ravenously hungry. Eve made cheese omelets, which Bodey enhanced by dumping a half jar of salsa over his eggs. He finished off her carton of orange juice and took seconds on toast. Eve, he decided would make the best dessert, but she pushed him away.

“I thought you wanted to show me something at the ranch. It’s getting dark, and I don’t think I have enough food left for breakfast.”

“No problem. There are lights in the barn, and if you stay over, I’ll treat for breakfast.”

“Let’s just check out this mysterious critter for now.”

They drove back to the Three B’s in Bodey’s truck. His headlights picked out the yellow forms of the three heifers in their small pasture as they passed. Bodey pulled in at the barn where he kept his horses. When he pushed open the door and flipped a light switch, Rocky thrust his head out of the stall and nickered.

Eve touched the horse’s velvet nose. “When I saw you on this guy, I could have sworn you rode the same mount you had when you stopped me on the bridle trail my junior year at the Academy.”

“This is his grandson, Rocky Three. The sequel is even better than the original version. Rocky Two is still standing stud at my place in Texas. What became of the dappled mare you were ridin’ that day? She was finer than the usual trail horse. She belong to you?”

“My father gave me Dottie when I turned twelve so I could have my own horse here at the Academy. I couldn’t afford to keep her after he vanished, so I donated her to the school. That’s how they get most of their horses—from girls going off to college or moving on to better mounts. Sr. Nessy still used her to teach the little ones riding when I first came back here, but Dottie was past twenty. When the West Nile virus came around, she caught it and died. At least, I was with her at the end.”

Bodey put a comforting arm around her shoulder. “You were a good rider. Dottie seemed a little skittish to me back when, but you had her under control the whole time.”

“Your stud horse made her nervous. She was just scared. I always thought you would try to reach me again, but then, I heard about you and Renee.”

“Well, Renee was givin’ away what every teenage boy dreams about. Our fling didn’t last out the summer.”

They moved to the next stall where a sorrel gelding poked his head out and blinked his eyes in sleepy curiosity at the disturbance. Bodey scratched the quarter horse under its hairy chin. “This is Bullwinkle, my spare horse when I was on the circuit. Rocky hated getting in the trailer, but if old Bullwinkle went first, he’d go peacefully. They’re buddies.”

“What, you couldn’t find a name from the Rocky movies?” Eve joked.

“Bullwinkle may be a gelding, but it still would have been an insult to call him Adrienne.”

They reached a third stall, and Eve sighed softly. “Oh, isn’t she beautiful.”

A yearling filly pricked her shiny black ears at the sound. She shifted, showing them a white rump that looked as if it had been covered with lacy snowflakes. Two white socks on her hind feet and a star on her forehead made her even more showy.

“I think that is the prettiest Appaloosa I’ve ever seen. What’s her name?” Eve held out an open hand to coax the filly to her.

“My new-found daddy and me, we killed some time at a livestock show in Dallas. We both thought she’d be a good investment. I’ll train her myself. She had another name, but now she is officially Three B’s Miss Fancy Pants, Fancy for short.”

Eve gave her throaty laugh. “How perfect!”

“Yeah, that’s what I called you when you shot me down back when we were kids. I thought you were perfect, too.”

“I’d be insulted if you hadn’t added that last part. You must have figured out by now I’m hardly perfect.” The filly edged closer and licked Eve’s palm with her broad tongue.

“Still way too good for me even with a new found daddy.”

Eve answered by taking his face in her hands and initiating a kiss. She ran her hands over the evening stubble on his cheeks and up into the thickness of his dark hair. The yearling stuck her nose between them snuffling for treats. Bodey backed Eve toward an open stall, then thought the better of it.

“No, once a day on the floor is enough. We’re going to bed, my bed—and I’d carry you there if I didn’t have a bum knee.”

Laughing, Eve led the way.

Chapter Twelve

“Wake up, Miss Fancy Pants!” Bodey’s voice boomed in Eve’s ear. He gave her a playful swat on the rear. “We have time for a ride before breakfast, and it’s a glorious mornin’ out there.”

“I don’t seem to be wearing
any
pants,” Eve said sleepily. She yawned and stretched, then realized Bodey had ripped the sheet off her naked body and was enjoying the show entirely too much. Eve curled into a ball covered mostly by her hair. “You’re very pleased with yourself today. What time is it?”

“Six-thirty in the a.m. The horses are saddled and ready to go. I figure you need to learn to ride western style if you’re gonna be livin’ on a ranch.”

Too groggy to argue, Eve stumbled into the bathroom and shut the door. She washed her face with cold water and used a warm, soapy cloth between her legs, not that Bodey or the horse would care. She twisted her own long mane into a single braid and secured it with rubber bands at the top and bottom. This was going to be a morning without makeup. She expected to see the face of woman over thirty and badly in need of concealer when she looked in the mirror, but the face staring back had shining eyes, pink cheeks, and a smile on her face. All the little lines seemed to have vanished under the glow of happiness.

Eve found the worn jeans and faded pink T-shirt she’d thrown on for a night visit to the Three B’s stable when she’d had no intention of staying over and covered her body. She searched for the old sneakers with holes in the toes that she’d kicked off somewhere in the bedroom.

“Don’t bother. You need boots.” Bodey threw open his closet. “We may have to stuff the toes with something.”

Eve looked astounded. “How many pairs of boots do you have?”

“Oh, I don’t know. Maybe fifty. A lot of them are promotional items companies pay me to wear. Good thing Big Ben had almost as many, or I wouldn’t have all these nice slots to put them in.” Bodey took a pair from the rack and gave them a sniff. “These have never been worn—because I wouldn’t caught dead in ’em. Too rhinestone cowboy for me. You keep ’em when we’re done with our lesson.”

The boots were white and had elaborate gold stitching forming roses on the sides. Eve tried them on. Not a bad fit at all, but a shock that she had feet nearly as big as his and a few inches on him in height when he didn’t wear boots, not all that often really. She felt a self-deprecating need to point this out. “I guess you’ve noticed my feet aren’t exactly dainty.”

“Honey, I never noticed your feet at all. We’re about the same height when I have my boots and hat on so it goes to figure.”

Eve regarded herself in the mirror. “If I had spangles across my chest, I could be taken for a University of Texas drum majorette.”

“Now we’re talkin’. Remind me to buy you the whole outfit someday. Come on now, Rocky and Bullwinkle are waitin’.”

Bodey had tied the two horses by the kitchen door. He let Eve grab a cup of freshly brewed coffee and a slightly stale Danish on the way out. She finished her impromptu breakfast while Bodey gave her riding instructions.

“Remember you neck-rein a western horse, put pressure on the side opposite of where you want to go. It’s not so much about tuggin’ on the bit unless you want to stop.”

Eve sat her coffee mug down on the edge of a flowerbed. “Let’s give it a try then.” She grasped the horn, put a foot in the low-hanging stirrup, and swung a leg over the saddle. “Hey, I can mount up myself, but I feel like my legs are dangling.”

“No, I got the stirrups about right for you. Give the Bull some boot and away we go.”

Eve kicked her mount’s side and woke him from an early morning doze. Bodey steered Rocky alongside Bullwinkle, and they ambled by the fence line for a mile or two admiring the dawn and the blooming white Cherokee roses that had taken over since Big Ben’s time. Bodey got down and unlatched a gate into a pasture where placid Black Angus cows with three-month-old calves by their sides were spread out grazing on the spring grass.

“Let’s pick up the speed some. And none of that up and down posting stuff. Just hang on with your knees and enjoy the ride.”

Bodey let Eve go ahead. When they reached the far end of the field, Bodey increased the pace, and they galloped around the perimeter upsetting the mama cows who called to their young to huddle at their side and bunch up into a herd.

“Want to have some fun? We can cut a few cows,” Bodey suggested.

“That sounds cruel.”

“From the herd, Eve, not with a knife. How did I end up with a city girl like you? Show ole Bullwinkle which pair you want and go after ’em, but watch out for sudden moves.”

Bullwinkle for all this lackadaisical air when he was standing still went after the cow and her baby like a hound dog after a coon. He pushed the bawling animals away from the herd and countered their every attempt to return to the group with his neck snaked out and a steady eye on the quarry. The gelding drove them toward the gate where Bodey waited. When Eve finally pulled him up and allowed the frantic cow to go back to her friends, she felt as if she’d just been along for the ride.

“Well, what an experience for both me and the cow,” she gasped.

“You didn’t lose your seat. You’ll do just fine on a ranch.”

“Bodey, let’s not assume anything right now.”

Eve led the way back to the barns where she unsaddled and groomed her own horse beside Bodey and Rocky. After letting the horses out for grass, Eve heaved the heavy saddle off the side of the stall where she’d placed it and asked Bodey where it belonged.

“Tack room’s over here.” He opened the door with a flourish.

Eve blinked. The spacious room was festooned with glossy pictures of Bodey riding bulls and broncos. Ornate unused prize saddles sat on forms against the far wall. Gold buckles filled a glass case. Gaudy chaps embossed with enough endorsements for a NASCAR racer spread out as wall hangings along with an assortment of braided ropes and cow bells. The place smelled of new leather and old, as well as dust from the rodeo ring.

“Ah, where should I put this?” Eve said of the plain, practical saddle she held.

“The workin’ stuff goes up front, right there by you.”

Eve relieved herself of the saddle and took another step into the room. “You’ve accomplished a lot since you left Rainbow, Bodey.”

“Got more of this stuff at my place in Texas.”

Eve moved to the back of the room and fingered the braided ropes. “And these are…?”

“My favorite bull ropes. Let me show you how they work.” Bodey took down one of the straps and hung a cowbell from it. He tied it around Eve’s body and let the bell dangle down between her legs. Slowly, he backed her up against one of the prize saddles.

Eve swore she could feel the cold of the metal bell through her clothes pressing against the parts of her that were growing hot. Eyes closed, she arched back over the saddle. With a single tug, Bodey released the bull rope. The bell fell to the floor with a clank, and her jeans followed it. Eve stayed spread-legged where she was. Bodey picked up a loose end of the rope and rubbed it lightly back and forth between her thighs until she moaned. He unbuckled and dropped his own pants down to his ankles, at this point no sense in doing anything more. He pushed inside of Eve, and she bucked against him. He rode her hard to the end until they were both draped across the saddle more or less holding each other up.

“Still think we ain’t compatible, Miss Fancy Pants?” Bodey asked, feeling his heart pumping hard the way it did after his best rides.

“I think I’m willing to give this relationship a try, cowboy, but I do have conditions.”

Chapter Thirteen

Here they sat again at the eleven o’clock Mass on Sunday, attendance being one of Eve’s conditions for continuing their relationship. The church meant a great deal to her, and she’d expect him to convert and raise any children they might have in the religion. Honest to God, Bodey didn’t think he’d ever be much of a churchgoer, regardless of his Irish genes. The Catholic church had way too much upping and downing, singing and standing in line for dry, papery wafers, not that he and Eve had been doing that last part. She’d skipped confession ever since Bodey returned from Texas with the mean cows, a fact the canny old nuns obviously noticed but did not mention. Still, Eve dragged him to Mass where he often dozed off during the sermon, especially if they had been up all night making love.