“Ah. So that’s why you’ve taken up squatting rights under my tree.”
Chad flashed a wobbly grin that vanished as quickly as it came. “What’ll I say to her? That I’m sorry for being such a jerk? I’ve been pissed at her ever since we moved. I’ve even flipped her crap about the club going under when I knew, deep down, that my dad made it happen by taking half of her operating money.”
“I think your mother understands how you’re feeling better than you realize.”
“I still don’t know what to say to her when I go home.”
“Don’t say anything, then. Just give her a great big hug. She’ll get the message.”
“I wish I could buy her earrings back. They were supposed to go to Rosie someday. Now some stranger will get them.”
Zeke smiled. “Now, there’s a problem I may be able to help you with.”
“How?”
“By floating you a loan.”
“You’d do that?”
“That depends. Are you good for the debt?”
Chad looked uncertain. “She sold them for a lot.”
“How much?”
“Three fifty.”
Zeke hooked a thumb over his shoulder. “I’ve got forty acres of unfenced land. It’s going to be one hell of a job, digging all those postholes. We’ll never get it done in the time you owe me, and I’ve been toying with the idea of hiring someone. If you’re willing to take the job and promise to stick with it until you get me paid back, I’ll loan you the money to redeem the earrings.”
Chad’s eyes brightened. “You will?”
Zeke stretched out a hand. “Put it right there, partner.”
The boy flashed another wobbly grin and placed his hand in Zeke’s. “You’re really gonna buy my mom’s earrings back?”
“You’re good for the money, aren’t you?”
“Yes.”
“Well, then, consider it done. Just bear in mind that it may cost you a lot of weekends.”
“I don’t care. I like working for you.”
Zeke ruffled the boy’s hair. “I like working with you, too.”
Natalie nearly jumped out of her skin when the phone rang. As she raced across the kitchen to answer it, she collided so hard with Valerie that the pair of them almost lost their footing. Valerie swore and fell back, allowing Natalie to reach the phone first.
“Hello?” she said breathlessly.
“Hi, honey. It’s Zeke.”
“Did you find him?” she cried.
“I did. And he didn’t run away. He was sitting under my oak tree.”
Natalie sank onto a chair, so relieved that her legs went weak. “He’s okay?”
“He’s a little upset, but he’s okay. He’ll be home any minute. You need to listen to me. All right?”
“I’m listening.”
“Chad had a nasty conversation with his father. He was pretty upset and needed some alone time to sort his way through it. Don’t be mad at him for frightening you. Okay?”
She wanted to wring Chad’s neck for scaring her half to death. “All right.”
“Promise? I think you’re going to like where he’s at right now.”
Natalie’s hand tightened on the phone. “Where’s that?”
There was a smile in Zeke’s voice when he replied, “In his mama’s corner.”
Natalie no sooner broke the connection than the back door opened and Chad walked in. Her heart caught when she saw his face. His eyes were red and puffy from crying.
“Mom?” he squeaked.
She gained her feet and opened her arms. For the first time in six months, her son ran to her for a hug. Natalie caught him close. Her chest grew so tight that she couldn’t speak. She just rocked to and fro, wishing with all her heart that she’d made wiser choices in her youth and spared Chad this heartache. But then he might not be her Chad, she thought. Robert had helped create this boy. When Natalie thought in those terms, she knew that, mistakes or not, she wouldn’t go back in time and change anything.
“I love you,” she managed to say.
Chad’s arms tightened convulsively around her. “I love you, too, Mom. I love you, too.” He shoved his face so hard against Natalie’s shoulder that it hurt. “Thank you for the clothes.”
The clothes? Bewildered, Natalie smoothed his hair and patted his back. “You’re welcome, sweetie. I was glad to get them for you. That’s my job. I’m your mother. Remember?”
He nodded. Then he straightened away, wiping his cheeks and straightening his face. When he met Natalie’s gaze, she got the strangest feeling. The eyes looking back at her weren’t those of a little boy anymore.
“I’m buying back your earrings,” he said.
“What?”
Chad nodded. “You heard me. I’m buying them back for you.”
Natalie thought of the cost and knew he’d never be able to get his hands on that much money. Instead of saying that, she cried, “Oh, Chad, that isn’t necessary. Grandma would understand.”
“No,” he said firmly. “They’re a family heirloom and very important. Someday they should go to Rosie. I’m buying them back.”
Natalie nodded, not wanting to ask how he planned to accomplish that. “Okay. Getting them back will make me very happy.”
Chad twisted his neck to wipe his nose on his shirt. “Consider it done.”
That said, he glanced at his aunt and exited the kitchen. Valerie shrugged and raised her eyebrows. “Who the hell was that?”
Natalie wasn’t sure she knew. She glanced at the phone. After a long moment, she smiled tremulously and made her way to a chair on unsteady feet.
“Chad can’t buy those earrings back,” Valerie cried softly. “Why’d you act like he could?”
Natalie buried her face in her hands. Zeke. She took a trembling breath. “Because he can.”
Valerie came to sit at the table. “Coulter?”
Natalie lifted her head and nodded, so choked up she could barely speak. “Yes. It’s the only explanation. Chad wasn’t blowing smoke. He honestly believes he’s going to put those earrings in my hands.”
Valerie nodded and gazed off for a moment. Then she grinned. Her eyes danced with mischief when she looked at Natalie again. “Okay, time to level with each other. Am I going to be stepping on your toes if I screw that cowboy’s brains out?”
Natalie was too wrapped up in her son to immediately assimilate the question. When it registered, she almost scolded her little sister for being crass. But, then, for the second time in as many minutes, she really looked into someone’s eyes and realized she was no longer dealing with a child.
She sat back in her chair, met Valerie’s gaze straight on, and said, “Mess with him, girlfriend, and you’re dead.”
Chapter Eight
True to his word, Zeke postponed work at his place the next morning to drive Chad to the pawnshop in Crystal Falls. Zeke had never done business in such a place and mistakenly thought that they could buy back Natalie’s earrings, no problem.
“I’m sorry,” the elderly proprietress said. “I’m obligated to hold the earrings for thirty days. I’ll take your name and number. If Mrs. Patterson hasn’t redeemed them by then, I can let you know.”
“You don’t understand.” Zeke curled a hand over Chad’s shoulder. “This is Mrs. Patterson’s son. He’d like to buy his mother’s earrings back.”
The woman smiled sadly at Chad. “I’m sorry, sweetie. Without your mother’s permission, I can’t let you do that.” She opened the drawer of a file cabinet, searched for a moment, and withdrew a one-page contract. “If you’ll read the fine print, you’ll see that I’m obligated to hold the earrings.”
Chad glanced at the paper. “My mom won’t care if I buy them back. We’ll be taking them straight home to her.”
“It’s not as if we’re strangers in off the street,” Zeke inserted.
The woman sighed. “If only you had the receipt,” she said. “I’d feel better about bending the rules if I knew fo
r certain that you are who you say you are.”
“You think we’re lying?” Chad asked incredulously.
“Not really, no.” The woman smiled. “I’m sure you’re not, dear. And I think it’s lovely of you to buy the jewelry back for your mom. I could tell yesterday that it broke her heart to part with those diamond studs.”
Chad’s expression brightened. “I have an idea. Why don’t you call the number she left for you? Ask to talk to Valerie. She’s my aunt. She’ll tell you I’m me.”
The lady laughed and shook her head. Then she focused on Chad, her expression softened, and she reached hesitantly for the phone.
Minutes later, Chad had his mother’s earrings in his pocket. As they left the shop, Zeke said, “Whatever you do, don’t lose those puppies.”
Chad grinned from ear to ear. “I won’t.” After they were in the truck, the boy turned on the seat to say, “When we get home, I’d kind of like to talk to my mom about some stuff when I give her the earrings. Do you care if I wait an hour before I come to work?”
Zeke had a feeling the conversation that Chad had in mind might take much longer than an hour. He also believed it was a mother-and-son talk that was long overdue. “Take as long as you need.”
Zeke had just finished installing the new glass in the slider when someone’s shadow fell over him. Crouched to adjust the runner guide, he sat back on his heel and turned to find Natalie standing behind him. Her eyes were puffy and the tip of her nose was bright pink. Through her jet curls, he could see the diamond earrings twinkling.
“Hi, there,” he said.
“Hi.” She sounded as if a clothespin had been clamped over her nose. “I, um, came over ahead of the kids to thank you, Zeke.”
The shimmer in her eyes made him uneasy. She was looking at him as if he’d just hung the moon. “Thank me for what?”
She smiled and touched an earring. “You know very well for what. Chad couldn’t have gotten these back without your help.”
As Zeke pushed erect, his knee joint popped, a harsh reminder that he was far too old to let hormones do his thinking for him. “Don’t thank me. Chad’s the one who went into debt to redeem them, and he’ll have to work a lot of hours to pay me back.”
“Still.” She shrugged and caught her full lower lip between her teeth. Zeke had a bad feeling she was about to cry. “You lent him the money. That was very generous of you.”
“Not a problem. He’s a good kid. I trust him to make good on the debt.”
She nodded. “He is a good kid.” She went to chewing on her lip again, and there was no mistaking it this time; her eyes were filling with tears. “Thank you so much for whatever it was that you said to him last night.”
“I didn’t say much of anything.”
She rolled her eyes and dimpled her cheek. “It’s so wonderful to have my son back again. Talking with you helped him deal with his feelings about his dad. He’s disappointed in Robert, but he doesn’t seem to be destroyed over it.”
Zeke held up a staying hand. “Don’t give credit where it’s not due, Natalie. You raised Chad, not me.” To his intense dismay, he felt a lump forming at the base of his throat. “You’re the one who gave him a blueprint to follow.”
Her eyes widened. “Me? But I—”
Zeke cut her off. “I don’t deserve credit for anything.”
A single tear slipped over her thick lower lashes onto her cheek.
Then, taking him completely off guard, she stepped forward, went up on her tiptoes, and fiercely hugged his neck, pressing full-length against him in the process. “Thank you anyway, Zeke. Thank you so much.”
Zeke instinctively slipped an arm around her. “You’re welcome,” he said gruffly. “I really didn’t do much, though.”
“Enough. Exactly enough,” she whispered shakily.
She kissed his cheek, her intent obviously to strike and retreat. Zeke intended to let her go. Only somehow he turned his head at the last instant and captured her mouth with his. She jerked and gave a startled little gasp. But then her lips parted in tremulous surrender. He angled his head to take control, the warning bells going off in some distant part of his mind too faint to make him release her. Natalie. She grabbed for breath, the inhalation momentarily robbing him of oxygen. But then she exhaled in a sweet, ragged rush that teased his lungs just as her softness teased his body.
As if her bones suddenly melted, she sank in to him and knotted her slender hands on his shirt. Her mouth was hot from crying, the flavor of her so sweet and intoxicating that he ached. He cupped his free hand over the back of her head to deepen the kiss. She moaned, the sound a muted cry of pleasure in the hollow of her throat that further inflamed him.
He wanted her as he’d never wanted anything, needed her as he had never needed anyone. It wasn’t a decision. It wasn’t even really a thought. He knew only that he had to have her, the feeling riding high on a crushing wave of urgency that washed his vision with red.
She moaned again, stepping up onto his boots to kiss him back with such abandon that he lost it. Sweet. Oh, God. He couldn’t believe this. All his life, he’d prided himself on being cautious and never losing control. Now, suddenly, he had no control at all, and being cautious was the farthest thing from his mind. He feasted on her mouth. He slipped a hand under her shirt to touch her skin, which was warm, satiny, and purely feminine. He growled low in his throat, hooked an arm under her bottom, and turned to press her against the house.
Her breathing shallow and rapid, her teeth nipping hungrily at his lips, she ran her hands over him, touching his shoulders, learning the shape of his arms, every press of her fingertips conveying a frantic need that equaled his own. Holding her aloft with the press of his hips, he cupped her breasts in his hands, hating the fact that two layers of clothing covered them, but so aroused he couldn’t think how to remedy the problem. She whimpered when he thumbed her nipples, her pelvis pushing hard against his with every pass.
“What’re you doing, Mommy?”
Zeke jumped as if he’d just been poked with a cattle prod. He and Natalie sprang apart like guilty teenagers.
“Rosie!” she said breathlessly. “You startled me.”
The child squinched her face. “Were you guys kissing?”
Natalie pushed at her hair and straightened her shirt. “We, um—” She laughed nervously. “Heavens, no.”
No? Zeke wondered how she meant to explain her way out of that one.
Rosie looked suspiciously at Zeke. “What were you doing, then?”
“Mr. Coulter was helping me with my earring,” Natalie said quickly. “The back came loose, and I couldn’t get it back on without a mirror.”
“Oh.” Rosie still seemed unconvinced. “It sure looked like you were kissing to me.”
Zeke turned away, pretending intense interest in the sliding-glass door while he pushed at his fly to reposition a certain part of his anatomy. Damn. He was out of his mind. That was the only explanation.
For the rest of the day, Zeke wanted to kick himself. Of all the ill-advised things he’d ever done, waylaying Natalie when she kissed his cheek had been one of the dumbest. Now he couldn’t look at her without remembering how fabulous it had felt to have her lush body pressed against him. And every time she looked at him, her cheeks turned a pretty pink, a surefire sign that she was thinking about it, too, which only nudged his blood pressure up and made him entertain notions that he shouldn’t.
What bothered Zeke most was that nothing had changed since last night when he’d reached the decision that it would be best to stop this madness before it began. He still wasn’t sure beyond any doubt that his feelings for her were the lasting kind or that he’d continue to enjoy being around her kids. And, despite what had happened between them that morning, he still didn’t know if they were sexually compatible, either. A fabulous start was no guarantee of a satisfying ending.
That left him precisely where he’d been before, convinced that he should cool it. No more passionate
kisses, that was for damned sure. If Rosie hadn’t interrupted them, Zeke wasn’t certain that he would have had the presence of mind or the self-control to stop.
Natalie wasn’t the sort of lady to give herself to a man without her heart being part of the package. Did he want to put himself in a position where he felt obligated to remain in a relationship that wasn’t right for him?
Zeke’s answer to that wasn’t just no; it was hell no.
Cooling it. Zeke discovered it was easier said than done. Each morning, Natalie showed up at his place to work, looking good enough to eat in snug, faded jeans and her father’s ratty old shirts, her wonderfully curly hair flying in all directions. He watched her sway her hips to music that only she could hear until he felt sure he’d go mad. At night, he had to take cold showers in order to fall asleep. Then he got up the next morning to go through the same torture all over again.
In short, despite his decision to resist his sexy neighbor, Zeke found himself getting sucked in deeper with each passing day, unable to deny his attraction to her. She was everything he’d ever yearned to find without consciously realizing he wanted to look. Natalie.
He longed to hear her sing again and fought a nightly battle to keep himself from stopping by the Blue Parrot after he finished doing paperwork at his store. Sometimes, at unexpected moments, he could have sworn he caught the scent of her when she was nowhere around. He’d even started to dream of her—passionate, white-hot dreams that jerked him awake and sent him running for the shower again.
In the not-so-distant past, Zeke had ribbed his brother Hank about falling hard and fast for his wife, Carly. Now he was muttering the same words to himself. You’re a goner, Romeo.
In the end, Zeke went to the one person whose advice he trusted above all others. Harv Coulter was picking tomatoes in the kitchen garden when Zeke showed up. Not realizing the importance of his son’s visit, Harv asked Zeke to bring him a basket.
“I’ve never seen so many damned tomatoes,” Harv complained when Zeke returned from the garage. “I’ll be helping your mother can these sons of bitches for a week.”