Chapter Thirteen

April finished loading the dishwasher with the dirty breakfast dishes before washing her hands and drying them on a nearby kitchen towel. Carrie returned items to the fridge while Tess placed the clean china back into its respective places.

Sleep had come off and on the night before. Tess hadn’t woken her with snoring or tossing around. Instead, her mind had refused to pipe down for the night.

“Tess?” Brand’s voice carried to them from the mudroom.

With a perplexed glance to April and Carrie, Tess hurried out into the living area in order to see him.

April and Carrie followed in her wake.

“Yes?”

His eyes locked on her as a ghost of a smile teased his lips. “I thought you might want to come check out your critters with me.”

Tess frowned, worry causing her eyebrows to furrow. “What’s wrong?”

“Nothing’s wrong.” He smiled at her. “Just counted an extra alpaca this morning. A little white baby that wasn’t there yesterday.”

Tess beamed. “A baby? Really?” She hurried over and started tugging on her shoes. “I didn’t know any of the females were expecting.”

“Well, I’m not an expert on alpacas, but I can tell you it’s not a calf, a lamb, or a baby goat. Guess that makes it an alpaca.” His slow drawl carried a healthy dose of teasing.

Tess rolled her eyes. “You, sir, are pulling my leg.” She stood on tiptoe and brushed her lips across his cheek. “And I thank you for doing so.” With one more glance, she pushed on the door handle. “Now let’s go see the new addition. I can’t wait.” She grabbed his hand and tugged hard.

Brand followed her out, a wide smile covering his face.

April watched them with a smile. They’re made for one another.

“Fate works in mysterious ways,” Carrie said as she watched them hurry across the yard.

April concurred. “Yep. If the wildfires hadn’t struck, endangering us, they’d have never met.”

“And you’d still be back at the stable shoveling horse manure all day.” The corners of Carrie’s lips curled up slightly.

“Probably.”

For a long moment, neither woman said another word. Carrie finally broke the silence. “I need to go grocery shopping. Would you care to ride along?”

“Sure.” April didn’t mind pitching in, even financially, for her stay. She wasn’t a princess and didn’t expect to be treated as one during her visit, however long that might be.

“Great. Let me get my purse and we’ll get started.”

Fifteen minutes later, Carrie pulled her big SUV onto the highway.

April, belted into the passenger seat, watched out the windows, taking in the pretty rural scenery along the way.

“I noticed the way you and Dusty look at one another.”

Uh-oh. April blew out a breath. She really liked Carrie. That didn’t mean she wanted to open up her greatest secrets to the woman. “He’s a good man and great with the horses. He worries about those he cares for.” Darn it, that was the truth. The problem wasn’t with his protective instincts in bringing her along. Instead, it resided with his ability to give her a chance to see if they could match up stronger than simply friends with his general distrust of women.

“All of us were surprised to see Dusty brought you along. Granted, we haven’t talked to him in a while, but considering his past with us, that says something big.”

This was the second time Carrie had mentioned her shock. April shrugged it off. “He was just worried that I had nowhere to go.”

“Bull crap. He could have sent you off elsewhere, left you to your own devices, like the rest of the boarders. If you haven’t noticed, he didn’t pack them up and bring them along as well. Yet he brought you with him to stay with his family, even though he probably wasn’t certain about the reception he’d receive after all this time of hurt feelings.”

The facts bolstered April’s spirit a bit. “He never said what happened. Never spoke of you guys at all.” She folded her hands in her lap and treaded carefully into the personal lives of Dusty and his family. “I got the impression that it was a sore spot with him.”

Carrie peered over at her before turning her attention back to the road. “Maybe if I filled you in, you might see what the rest of us do.”

Please do. April craved insight into Dusty while also understanding the need to keep personal information to herself. No problem. She’d never been one to participate in gossip anyway. “Okay.”

“It all started back on his last tour of duty. He’d been assigned to the Middle East for months. SEALS are wrapped in secrets and cloaked in darkness. We never knew anything. Just received a phone call once in a blue moon from Dusty telling us he was okay.”

That lined up with what little April knew about military life in a war zone.

“He was engaged at the time he left. Her name is Collette.”

“Engaged?” April blinked. She’d never considered that Dusty might have been that serious with a woman before.

“Yeah. Engaged. To a worthless woman whose only fine points revolved around a drop-dead gorgeous body. The rest of her made for a pretty useless human. None of us cared much for her, but Dusty claimed to love her. We stayed out of it and waited to see what would happen.” Carrie spared April a glance. “Anyway, seems Collette didn’t care for her man being thousands of miles away with very little communication. She wanted him at home to take care of her. Hard to do when the Navy owns your ass and you’re fighting just to survive day in and day out for months at a time.”

“I imagine. That’s so…selfish.” April couldn’t believe that another woman would be like that. Certainly life as a military spouse had to be difficult. That was a no-brainer. Yet those serving needed all the support and understanding they could get.

“She sent him a Dear John letter in the middle of his deployment, calling off the engagement. A couple of weeks later she hooked up with another guy, ran off and got married.”

“Whoa.” Several scenarios rushed through April’s mind, none of them portraying Collette in a good light.

“Yeah. Dusty didn’t receive the letter for a few weeks. He was devastated.”

“A hell of a time to break that kind of news to a person. Right in the middle of a war. What was she thinking?” Anger added a bite to April’s words. That kind of distraction could get a guy killed. He’d had enough on his plate without a narcissistic bimbo throwing a big monkey wrench into his life.

Carrie pulled into the lot of a large grocery store, found an empty space and parked. She cut the engine and turned to April. “It gets worse. When he came home, discharged from the Navy, he took up with another woman. Rose.” Carrie’s lips thinned. “She clung to him, flirted outrageously and insisted on only the finest things for her. She would have milked him dry and left him penniless if Archer and the other boys hadn’t stepped in. They hired a private detective who dug up her background. She was a gold-digger. Period. Had taken three other men for their life savings then ran off, leaving them destitute.”

“She should be locked up.”

“I thought horsewhipped, but locked up would work too.” Carrie sighed. “When Archer dropped the evidence in front of Dusty, Dusty became furious. He yelled, cursed and started throwing punches. After a tussle with Archer, he cussed out all of the brothers, vowed to never return, and drove away.”

“His pride was hurt,” April whispered. He might have had a clue about Rose, but for his brothers to shove the evidence in his face must have made him feel like an idiot. So he’d turned his anger on them as well as himself.

“Yeah. We haven’t heard from him since that time, three years to be exact, until he made the SOS call to pick up his horses. We’d kept tabs on him, knew where he settled down, and purposely didn’t change any phone numbers, waiting on the day he might relent.”

“It took a natural disaster for it to happen.” April shared a sorrowful look with Carrie. “I’m sorry. Stubbornness isn’t always a great quality to have.”

A soft smile creased Carrie’s face. “True, but that’s the Delaney men. They come by it honestly.”

“They seem to love one another. All that ribbing.”

“That’s their way of showing affection.” Carrie tilted her head. “Let’s get to shopping or we’ll get a heatstroke sitting out here in this hot truck.”

April collected her purse, climbed out of the passenger side and clicked her door locked before shutting it. She hurried around the vehicle, met up with Carrie and walked into the store. A refreshing blast of cool air conditioning hit her as she entered.

Glancing around, April found the store to be like most others—aisles and aisles of goods just waiting to be chosen and placed in baskets for purchase.

April’s thoughts returned to the previous conversation. “Okay. I can see now why you were stunned when Dusty not only called for help, but brought me along for the ride.”

Carrie grabbed a grocery cart, dropped her purse inside and started toward the produce section. “He’d sworn off women as far as we could tell.”

“Probably decided they weren’t worth the effort,” April added.

“Yet here you are.” Carrie met April’s gaze.

“Here I am,” April repeated. “Going with the motions, not pushing for fear of running him off. Wanting more than he might ever be able to provide.” She slouched with the truth.

Carrie paused at the fresh vegetables. “Good things come to those who wait.” She grinned ruefully, snagged a plastic bag and started loading it up.

“I’ll be old and gray with saggy boobs,” April lamented with a small groan.

Carrie laughed. “Dusty’s smart. He won’t wait quite that long.”

“Promise?”

“Nope.”

“Oh.” April’s moment of optimism faded fast.

“What I can say is this. You’re ahead of the game. You’re here. That’s first base. There will be at least a few days of hanging around Dusty at the farm. Granted, it’s not one-on-one like you’re used to, but with his brothers underfoot, Dusty will be busy beating them away so he can have you all to himself. That’s second base.”

April took the full bag from Carrie and placed it carefully in the cart. “What’s third base?”

“That, my dear, is up to you.” Carrie smiled. “Men are simple at times, complex at others. The foundation is set. You just have to decide where to go from there.”

April pursed her lips in thought. Carrie had a valid point. With Dusty’s brothers around, they might nudge him in the right direction. Or turn him completely against her. If the quiet time on the back porch swing the previous night meant anything, Dusty hadn’t rejected her at all. He’d embraced her in a sweet, subtle, tentative way. A start. A good one at that. “What if I get thrown out sliding into third base?”

Carrie glanced her direction. “Then you know where you stand.”

“True.” April sighed. “Why does this have to be so complicated?”

“They’re men. They don’t come with a user’s manual or a guide book. I’d say most of their wants revolve around sex, but Dusty is the exception to the rule. Break his code and you’ll be the most protected and adored woman around.”

April shook her head. “How did you get to be so smart?”

Carrie shrugged. “I’ve been around the block a time or two.” Her smile reached her eyes. “Had to do some convincing and basically sit on top of Archer to get him to settle down, but it was all worth it. I’m a very lucky woman.”

April noted the loving expression painted on Carrie’s face. A spark of envy clicked. “I want what you have.” The admission slipped out.

Carrie stared at her a long moment. “Then fight for your man. Give him time, patience, understanding and love. If all that fails, be prepared to fight.”

“Just call me Annie Oakley.”

Carrie laughed. “You’ll do, April. You’ll do.”

Together they walked down every aisle, loading up the cart as they went. April delved in, paid for part, against Carrie’s objection, and took her advice to heart.

If she wanted Dusty, she needed to stay the course and batten down the hatches. It might be a bumpy ride.

For taming a wild stallion had never been easy.

He’d already thawed considerably toward her. Maybe, just maybe, the shield around his heart would dissipate, leaving an opening for her.

Only time would tell.