Wild About the Wrangler (11 page)

His mouth dropped open. Then he took off his hat and peered inside. “That information is never going to fit under this hat. Just sayin'.”

“Please don't spread it around.”

“I can understand why you'd say that. If people hear that Anastasia Bickford is up by six, they'll think that life as we know it is about to end. I'm a little concerned about it myself.”

“I just don't want to make a big deal about this riding thing.”

“Then you should have scheduled your lessons for eleven. Nobody would notice that.”

“Believe me, I tried. Mac insisted they had to be early so we could each get on with our day.”

“I can see how well that's working out for you. You're mainlining coffee and about to fall off your barstool.”

“Tomorrow will be better. I'll go to bed early.”

“You look like you should go to bed now.”

She shook her head. “Then I'll really be messed up. I'm determined to stay awake until ten, go to bed, and sleep until six.”

“Good luck with that. Ah, here's your food.” He gestured to the plate Ike had put in front of her. “Try not to do a face-plant into it.”

“Thanks.” She smiled at him. “Seriously, don't say anything about this, okay?”

“Okay. But I'm assuming Ed knows.”

“He does.”

“Who else?”

“Georgie, and probably Vince by now.”

“Probably, although he didn't say anything to me. But now I understand why Mac isn't going to Clovis with me. He's too busy sadistically torturing you at six in the morning.”

“He's got the right idea. That way we don't interfere with any of the regular work around here. And
now
are you going down to talk to Ed about automatic watering systems?”

“I am. See you for darts later.” He paused. “Or maybe that's a bad idea, all things considered. You could put somebody's eye out.”

“I'll be
fine.
Now get out of here.”

“I'm gone. Try to stay vertical.” He gave her shoulder a squeeze and left.

The coffee helped but the food made her sleepy again so she had more coffee. And more coffee. By the time happy hour rolled around and Mac walked in with Travis, she was totally wired.

“Hi!” She hopped up from her table and knocked over her chair. “Whoops.”

Travis swept his arm in her direction. “Behold your overcaffeinated pupil.”

“I see that.” Mac approached her with a smile and picked up the chair she'd knocked over. “But I understand congratulations are in order. Travis said some high roller from L.A. is very impressed with your work.”

“Apparently.” Her accelerated heartbeat could be from all the caffeine in her system, but she thought it was probably because Mac was standing right in front of her with a proud expression on his face.

“I hope you don't care that I told him,” Travis said. “After I did, I thought maybe you'd want to break the news, but it was too late.”

“That's fine. You probably told it better than I could, anyway.”

“That's true. You suck at bragging on yourself unless we're talking darts.”

“That reminds me. See the sign on my table?”

Mac glanced over at it. “Taking a dart break
?”

“Yep, that's my plan. Are you two ready to lose?”

Mac's brow furrowed. “What if you get another great customer like you had earlier? I don't want to screw that up. If they see the sign, they might leave.”

“So let 'em. I've been looking forward to this dart game all day.” Mostly because it was her only excuse for spending time with him until they met again tomorrow morning, which seemed like ages from now.

“Okay, but I'm going to keep an eye on that table for you.”

“Thank you, Mac.” She drank in the sight of him. He'd changed his shirt since this morning, and if she wasn't mistaken, he'd shaved before coming here. She caught a whiff of shaving lotion, and normally when he showed up at this hour he had a five o'clock shadow going on.

She had to believe that had something to do with her and the kiss they'd shared, even if he'd never admit it. For her part, she'd ducked into the women's bathroom about fifteen minutes ago to freshen up before he got here. She'd felt a little silly doing it, but knowing he'd changed his shirt and shaved made her feel a lot less silly.

He made no move to walk over to the dart board. “Travis said the guy bought a picture of me when he went to the gallery in Amarillo.”

“That's right. Sketches of you sell.” That wasn't the biggest reason why she did them, but it sure was a bonus. “I should probably pay you a modeling fee.”

“Don't even think about it.” His warm brown gaze searched hers. “How are you? According to Travis, I'm putting you through hell with this early-morning routine.”

“I'm fine.” Especially now that he was here. She drew strength from his solid presence.

“Would seven o'clock be any better? We could probably get away with seven.”

“And miss the sunrise? Not on your life. I'm sure the first morning was the hardest.” She hesitated. “So you have the weekend off, I hear.”

“I do. That means we can schedule lessons Saturday and Sunday morning if you're up to it.”

“Absolutely.” She couldn't seem to stop looking into his eyes.

“I'm waiting,” Travis called out in a singsong voice. “I see a sign that says ‘Taking a dart break' but I don't see any dart playing going on.”

“Hang on, hotshot,” Mac called back. “We have a few things to discuss over here.” He kept his attention on Anastasia. “Vince is leaving Jasper at the stable this weekend so we can use him for your lessons. Vince is pretty excited about the lessons. Did Georgie call you?”

“I don't think so.” Then she remembered and clapped her hand to her forehead. “I turned off my phone when I got busy. I never turned it on again.” She pulled it out of her pocket and switched it on. “What did she want? I hope it wasn't critical.”

“Uh, in a way.”

Sure enough, she had three calls from Georgie but no message. She glanced up at Mac. “Is something wrong?”

“Call her.”

She did, and a few moments later she disconnected and gazed at Mac. “They want to get married a week from Saturday.”

“I know. Vince told me. Do you think you can do it?”

“I guess I have to.”

“No, you don't. If that's too much pressure, then they can get married here in Sadie's.”

“Vince would never understand.”

“Too bad. I do.”

She was impressed that he was more concerned for her struggle than for his best friend's wedding plans. “Do you think I can be ready by then?”

“Yes, if we work hard, but this is your decision.”

“I can't let them down. Or myself. In order to stand a chance of seeing the Ghost before the film crew arrives, I'd have to be out in the canyon by then, anyway.”

“Yes, but he won't be around during a wedding. You can't combine the two events. He'll take his herd and disappear that day.”

“Then I'll have to ride out there with you before then. After the wedding is cutting it too close.”

“Maybe.”

“I'm going to do it, Mac. I want you to push me as hard as you need to in order to make that happen. First the canyon ride. Then the wedding.” She smiled. “It'll be fine. I'm the maid of honor and you're the best man, so you'll have to keep track of me out there.”

“I would in any case.”

As she met his gaze and battled the urge to melt into his strong arms, she began to understand the problem she'd created for herself with one amazing kiss.

M
ac spent an hour of sweet frustration playing darts with Anastasia and Travis. Somehow he managed it without touching her, or at least not much. She was adorable with that caffeine buzz in progress. He finally talked her into drinking a beer because he was afraid with all the coffee she'd consumed she'd never sleep.

Then Georgie and Vince showed up and they all had dinner together. Travis repeated the Ryan Nesbitt story and made sure his hat was featured prominently in the telling. Mac hadn't laughed so much in a long time. That helped relieve the tension that gripped him whenever he looked at Anastasia. She was too beautiful. That was the main problem.

He was grateful to Georgie and Vince for showing up, because they decided to walk Anastasia home so they could talk about wedding stuff. He didn't dare offer, and he was a little sick of how chummy she was getting with Travis.

There wasn't anything sexual between them. Anybody could see that. But they were so easy with each other. Ever since this morning, he and Anastasia seemed to have lost that ability and he missed it.

After dinner he went home and ripped up some more carpet until he was tired enough to sleep. Honestly, he was like a kid on Christmas Eve knowing that he'd be spending the early-morning hours with Anastasia. She wasn't used to sharing those hours with anybody, which made his time with her even more special.

The next morning he resisted the impulse to make her a P B and J, but he brewed extra coffee and put it in a thermos. If she didn't need it, he could always drink it later. Ed greeted him with a twinkle in his eye.

That made him a little nervous. He'd assumed Ed hadn't observed anything out of the ordinary the previous morning. But then again, it was Ed's stable and he could have come upon them kissing and quietly left again.

There would be no kissing this morning. They had a deadline to meet, a couple of them, and he would do everything in his power to help her do what she wanted to do.

When she walked into the barn at exactly six, she was in far better shape than she'd been the morning before. Her cuffs were down, her shirt was tucked in, and her hair was tidy. She held a Spider-Man lunchbox in one hand and a thermos in the other.

He bit the inside of his cheek so he wouldn't laugh, but she looked like a third-grader headed off to school. Yet he knew she had to be extremely proud of herself for arriving more pulled together and carrying breakfast.

He cleared the amusement from his throat. “Good morning.”

“Good morning.” Her voice was a little thick with sleep but at least she was forming words and speaking distinctly. “I brought this.” She held up the Spider-Man lunchbox.

The image of a third-grader arriving for the first day of school was reinforced. “I see you did. That's good. Um, nice container.”

“I've had this since third grade.”

Bingo.

“It's more environmentally friendly than a paper sack.”

“Can't argue with you, there.” From the corner of his eye he could see Ed leaning on a shovel and trying to hide a smile. “How about taking a seat on the hay bale and eating your breakfast? Jasper's just finishing his. We can give him a little while to digest.”

“Works for me.” She plopped down with a little sigh.

Ed put his shovel away. “Everything seems to be under control, so I'll head up to the house.”

“Thanks, Ed.” But as the stable owner left, Mac realized that they were barely five minutes into the session and he'd already broken one of his newly minted rules. He was alone in the barn with Anastasia. Again.

Fortunately she wasn't awake enough to notice. She was concentrating on unscrewing the stainless steel cup from the top of her thermos. “Coffee.” She said it like some people would say
gold bullion
.

Then she surprised the hell out of him. After pouring herself a cup, she glanced up. “Want some? I have an extra mug in the lunchbox.”

“Um, sure.” He was flabbergasted and touched, too. She'd not only brought a sandwich and coffee for herself; she'd thought of him and was willing to share her precious coffee. He wasn't about to tell her he had brought an entire thermos of it in case she'd forgotten.

Setting her cup on the floor, she snapped open the lunchbox and took out a mug. She stared at it for a second, shrugged, and poured his coffee. “Here you go. You like it black like me, right?”

“Right.” He couldn't remember the last time he'd been so moved by a simple gesture. “Thank you.” The coffee was strong, just the way he liked it. “Great coffee.”

“I make good coffee.”

He took another sip. “Yes, you do.” The lavender mug had writing on one side and a picture on the other. He'd been so intent on her thoughtfulness that he hadn't paid much attention to either the words or the picture. As she started in on her sandwich, he took the time to look at the mug.

First he read the slogan written in bright orange.
SAVE A SHIRT. PAINT NAKED.
He turned the mug around, and sure enough, there was a naked woman standing in front of an easel.

He chuckled, but that wasn't his only reaction since the woman on the mug had brown hair and a ponytail. Whether it was supposed to be her or not, the image had captured his imagination and a response was rapidly traveling south.

“Sorry about that. I swear it was an accident.” Her cheeks were tinged with pink. “I just grabbed one that would fit in the lunchbox. I'm so used to that one I don't really see it, if you know what I mean.”

“I guess.” He'd be seeing it in his dreams tonight, probably in an animated version. He took another sip and tried to forget the picture on the mug. Nope, couldn't do it. “So you've had it awhile.”

“Since first year of art school. I took a ceramics class.”

“And made this?” Then it had to be a self-portrait.

“Yep.” She swallowed more coffee. “I was trying so hard to be outrageous and artistic. Full of myself, in other words.” She looked at the mug and frowned. “I should probably get rid of it.”

“But it's who you were then.” She might have reined in that outrageous streak but it wasn't gone. He'd seen flashes of it during some of their conversations. “I'd keep it.”

“It's sort of embarrassing, though.”

“I won't describe this mug to Travis, if that's what you're worried about.”

She smiled at him for the first time this morning. “Good idea.”

He had to ask. If he didn't, the question would drive him crazy. “Do you?”

“Do I what?”

“Paint naked.”

“Sometimes.”

Wham
. Lust was on the loose in his eager body.

“I have this man's shirt I use as a smock. If it's in the wash, I'd rather paint naked than not paint at all.”

He swallowed. “You could get another shirt.” He imagined her wearing one of his shirts and nothing else while she stood in front of her easel. Then he'd have to keep his hands off her while she worked. He would, too.

“Nope. That's my lucky paint shirt. I paint good pictures when I wear it.”

“What about when you don't wear it?”

Her gaze locked with his and heat simmered there. “We shouldn't be having this conversation.”

“I know. Blame it on the mug. What happens when you paint naked?”

She opened her mouth as if she meant to tell him. Then she glanced away. “Let's drop it.”

“You're right. Sorry. I'm going to take a walk while you finish your breakfast.” He stepped into the cool morning and stopped to draw a deep breath.

So he was out here but he was still holding the mug and he really wasn't sure where to walk that wouldn't draw attention. He finished off the coffee while he thought about it. The only real option was to head out the gate and onto the road, and Ed might notice him doing that and wonder what the hell he was up to.

Good question. What had he been thinking, pursuing the question of her painting naked? He didn't need to know whether she did or not, and he certainly didn't need to know if the pictures were any different. In no time at all he'd crossed whatever lines he'd supposedly drawn yesterday.

“It's my fault.”

He turned to find her standing in the doorway of the barn, her hands shoved in the pockets of her quilted vest. “No, it's not,” he said. “I could have kept my big mouth shut.”

“I'm the one who brought the stupid mug.”

“It's not a stupid mug. It's funny and sexy. If yesterday hadn't happened, then we'd both be laughing about this mug.”

“See, it
is
my fault. I asked you to kiss me and now we have this . . . problem.”

“You were stressed. I could have refused to kiss you, but I didn't, so I share the blame.”

She blew out a breath. “But I should have seen which mug I was grabbing and picked another one. I know we have to be careful.”

“You were half asleep, damn it! The most important part of this episode is that you made coffee and thought to bring along a mug to share it with me. That blows me away.”

She gave him a tiny smile. “It does?”

“Yeah. Your impulse was pure even if the mug isn't. So let's rewind this whole situation and start over. You brought coffee to share, which is not only a sweet gesture, but it shows you're more awake this morning. How did you sleep?”

“Like the dead until around three. So I got up and sketched for an hour and amazingly got back to sleep again. Getting up at six was a little rough, but nothing like yesterday.” She gestured to her clothes. “As you can see.”

“I noticed right away. And FYI, I love the Spider-Man lunchbox.”

“I actually took it to art school and used it there. Getting it out again brought back memories.”

“Good ones, I hope.”

Hesitation flickered in her eyes. “Mostly.” She glanced over his shoulder. “Oh, Mac, turn around and look.”

The awe in her voice tugged at his heart as he turned to greet another sunrise with her. She responded to it with more enthusiasm than anyone he'd known, but she was the only artist he'd ever known, so that made sense. Sunrises would always remind him of Anastasia, which was ironic, considering how she'd avoided them all her life.

She walked up to stand beside him. “I already have so much to thank you for, but getting me up to see a sunrise twice in a row is high on the list.”

He glanced over to see the pink light touching her skin with a rosy glow. “I'm glad the sacrifice has some rewards.”

“Lots of rewards.” She gazed at the changing colors. “I don't know if I could paint fast enough to capture it, and a picture won't do it. There's no point in taking out my phone.”

“I know. I've tried with mine. You need a fancy camera, and even then . . .”

“I have a fancy camera but I don't use it much. For reference my phone does a fine job.” She watched in silence for a moment. “I think Georgie's pregnant.”

“You do?” He stared at her.

She nodded. “And from the panicky way you responded, I think you knew that, but you aren't supposed to tell me.”

He wasn't going to lie to her, so he decided not to confirm or deny that statement.

“It's the only explanation that makes sense. Otherwise they'd wait until after the film crew is gone.”

“Maybe they're trying to avoid getting too close to Halloween, or Thanksgiving, or maybe they don't want to get snowed on. Once we hit November, anything's possible. The weather now is perfect.”

“Totally plausible, but Georgie didn't say any of those things to me yesterday. Also, she didn't drink wine with dinner last night or the night before. She likes a glass of red wine with dinner.”

Mac continued to keep quiet. Georgie should have realized she couldn't fool her little sister. Anastasia was too sharp.

“See, she doesn't want to tell me she's pregnant and put more pressure on me to learn to ride, but she doesn't want to give me a dishonest reason, either. She said it was because they were so eager to tie the knot, which is the truth as far as it goes.”

“I don't think people in Bickford would care whether she's pregnant.”

“Aha!” She whirled to face him. “So she is!”

He backed up, hands raised. “You didn't hear it from me.”

“Oh, Mac.” She laughed. “I won't give you away. I'll pretend I don't know a thing.”

“But we'd better get to work. You'll be taking Jasper out of his stall this morning.”

She blinked, and some of her self-assurance disappeared. “I will?”

“You told me to push you.”

“I know. I'm thinking about the moment I got Prince out of his stall and what happened after that. I never really had control of him.”

“You're bigger now. You'll have a rope and he's already wearing a halter. It'll be just like yesterday except I won't be the one taking him out.”

She nodded, but she didn't look convinced she could do it.

“Just yesterday you stood in the yard with him while I fetched the tote and you seemed okay with that.”

“But we were both standing still. When we were moving, you were in charge.” She swallowed. “But I'll do it.”

“You need to get used to handling him alone. When you're out there with the wedding party and everybody's on horseback, all kinds of unexpected things can happen. If you have even a trace of that old terror left, you could react in a way that puts you and others at risk.”

“And my sister's pregnant.”

“Just barely. Don't forget she's going on the trail ride this weekend, so it's not like she can't be married on horseback the weekend after that.”

“Good point.”

“She'll be fine. We'll all be fine, but I want you to be best buddies with Jasper before the big day.” He gestured toward the barn. “After you.”