Chapter 16

The couple stood on their front porch waving as their granddaughter drove off with her new beau. She didn’t call him that or say anything that would indicate that. And as far as Eleanor could tell, Anne didn’t even realize that was what he was. But Eleanor knew. And the young man certainly knew.

“I like him,” Eleanor said.

“Obviously,” Evan said.

Eleanor giggled. “Jealous?”

“It’s only fair, my dear. You know how crazy our grandsons’ lovely wives and fiancée are about me.”

“This is true. And they don’t even try to hide their feelings. Sophie, Arielle, and Cassie flirt with you right in front of me. So, I suppose it is only fair that Christopher was so blatantly taken with me.”

“And don’t forget Nick. He adores you too.”

“He does indeed.”

The couple shivered and closed the door and went to sit together in front of their cozy fire.

“Now, we’re certain they’re a couple, are we?” Evan asked. “Considering that they didn’t even hold hands.”

“Yes, but they wanted to,” Eleanor assured him.

“Do you think she’ll actually let this one in?” Evan asked.

“I certainly hope so,” Eleanor said.

“I suppose that if Nick could break through Skye’s barriers, there’s hope for our Anne.”

“Yes, there is,” Eleanor agreed. “Especially since this young man seems to genuinely understand her and appreciate her and her love of dance.”

“The key to her heart.”

Eleanor nodded. That it was. 

Chris pulled over in front of the farmhouse and leaned across the console. It was, he realized, the first time he had initiated a kiss. He could tell he had startled her when his lips pressed into hers. He kept the kiss gentle, soft, tender. It was like her dancing, he told himself. He was attempting to convey his feelings for her through a kiss. He wanted to come right out and tell her he loved her. And that he wouldn’t stifle her. Or try to change her. But he knew better. She had to be ready to hear it. Trust went both ways. She had to trust him too.

And then he lost his ability to think as his tongue slipped into her receptive mouth, and once again he felt as if she were making love to him. His hands encircled her and he held her against him, and hers found their way to his chest, exploring and caressing and driving him crazy. She could do that easily enough across a crowded room. But this close . . .  He was beginning to think he was doomed. At least he was safe here, parked in front of her parents’ home. But damn, the woman could kiss. It must have been an extension of her dancing ability. She was so sensual, and exhibited so much passion when she danced, he couldn’t begin to imagine what making love with her would be like. Given all of her different moods, to say nothing of her physical abilities, he was in for the ride of his life.

“You taste so good,” he whispered against her lips. “You always taste so good.”

“I was just thinking the same thing,” she said as her tongue once again eased inside of his mouth.

Anne felt herself melting into his embrace. How did he do that to her? She’d never been so insane for a man in her life. There’d been men she’d been seriously attracted to, but none who could look at her from across the room and make her want to send her students home, cancel rehearsals, and jump him on the floor of her dance studio. What was it about this one? The one who was holding out? The only one who had ever held out? 

Her mind went into analysis mode, and she knew what Arielle would say. It was because he was holding out that she wanted him so much. But that wasn’t true. The first time she’d ever seen him, she wanted him. And at the time, she didn’t know he was going to hold out on her. All she knew was that he had her melting with one look, aching with one careless touch of her wayward hair. And she’d been aching for him ever since.

Chris smiled against her lips. She was thinking. He would have told her to stop thinking, but it might be what was saving him from embarrassing her and himself parked in front of her parents’ Victorian farmhouse. He pulled back and kissed her forehead and released her to open the car door.

Anne caught her breath, took a couple more deep ones, opened her door and climbed out. “I see them.” She pointed toward the Callahan Ranch.

She waved and Chris looked up into the distance. There were three horses, two adults, one kid, riding together in their direction. He and Anne started walking toward them. He was pleased to see that Sara was so comfortable in a western saddle. But then, she loved horses almost as much as she loved dancing.

“How did it go?” Anne called out as they closed the gap.

“Great!” Sara said. “It was sooo much fun. I love these saddles. Love them! And we had so much fun at Belle and Brandon’s Grandma and Grandpa’s house. They fed us snacks and everything.”

Chris’s brow furrowed as he struggled to remember the relationships. Nick had filled him in one evening at the pub. Cassie’s sister had married Matt, the oldest of the McCullough cousins. They’d had two kids. And then she had left them, gone off to New York to pursue an acting career. Matt and Arielle had met and gotten married. But Charlotte had returned and was back living at home with her parents. And now Cassie and Alex were engaged, expecting a baby and building a house where their families’ properties converged.

Chris helped his niece down from her horse while Alex and Cassie slid out of their saddles as if they were doing something as basic as stepping out of the shower. Anne made the introductions and while Alex and Chris shook hands, she hugged Cassie as if she hadn’t seen her in a while.

“Just trying to detect if there’s a baby bump yet,” she said.

“There is,” the black-haired, green-eyed cowgirl said, her hand resting on her tummy.

“Hardly.”

Chris was startled by how much Alex and Anne looked alike, but then judging from the photograph he’d pulled up on the internet, all of the McCullough siblings and cousins seemed to have the same brown hair and blue eyes.

“Where are Belle and Brandon?” Anne asked.

“Visiting with my parents.”

Anne cocked her head to the side. “Where’s Charlotte?”

Cassie laughed. “She’s over in Winslow, so they’re taking advantage of the chance to see their grandparents without their mother around.”

“Still not ready to see her, huh?” Anne asked.

“They’ll come around. They just need more time.”

“Perfectly understandable.” Anne’s arm automatically encircled Sara’s shoulders as they talked.

“They don’t want to see their mother?” Sara asked.

“I’m afraid not,” Cassie said. “She abandoned them when they were babies and just returned home about a month ago.”

“That’s really sad,” Sara said.

“What do you say we get these horses cooled down?” Alex said as he led his horse toward the stables.

Chris caught up to him, anxious to get to know Anne’s brother. “It was nice of you to include Sara.” 

“No problem.” Alex looked over at the man who was walking beside him. “She’s a sweet kid.”

“She is. And she loves riding. Did it take long to teach her not to post?”

Alex laughed. “A while. She kept posting instinctively, but she’ll catch on.”

It sounded as if she had received an invitation to return. “I hear your mom is a good teacher.”

“The best. She worked with her for a bit, but she had her hands full so Cassie and I took over.”

“I hear you’re pretty good yourself.”

Alex shrugged. “I used to be, but then I learned from the best. I pretty much taught all of my cousins to ride. And Cassie. But she’s passed me up since then and more often than not, I find myself riding in her dust.”

Chris laughed at the image. Something told him that despite his reputation for being a high-powered attorney and competitive by nature, Alex didn’t mind when it was Cassie who was beating him.

“Sara is welcome here any time one of us is available,” Alex said.

“That’s very kind of you.”

Alex shrugged again. “My Cousin Matt lives in Winslow too. I’ll give you his number, and I’ll give him yours so the next time his kids come riding, maybe Sara can come along. And vice versa.”

“She’ll love that. Once The Nutcracker is over she’ll have more time.”

“Why is she taking classes all the way over here anyway?” Alex turned his focus from the path to the man.

“She deserves the best,” Chris said softly, glancing over his shoulder at the best.

Alex chuckled. “It wouldn’t have anything to do with her uncle being taken with my sister, now would it?”

Chris shook his head. “Is everyone in your family this perceptive?”

“Who else?”

He stopped himself before exposing Skye and instead said, “I’m pretty sure your grandparents figured it out. You didn’t answer my question.”

“You’re sure you’re not an attorney?” Alex asked.

“Worse. I’m a photographer.”

“Okay then, there’s something we call McCullough wildfire. It spreads quickly, usually in the form of gossip. And to answer your question, yes, we are all relatively perceptive, particularly when it comes to our siblings and cousins. Not so much with ourselves.”

“In other words, you tend not to realize when someone is in love with you or when you’re in love with them, but you recognize it in each other.”

“Precisely. For example, everyone who was around at the time knew Matt was gone on Arielle. It took him a while to admit it to himself. And Skye—she was a tough nut to crack. She refused to catch Nick’s signals and refused to admit she was attracted to him for a long time.” Alex kicked a stone out of his path and continued. “However, Sean knew he loved Sophie the minute he saw her. Even in a photograph.”

Sean, Skye’s brother, he thought. He’d heard Sophie’s name too. Oh, right, they were the couple Evan had just mentioned were on their honeymoon. But he’d heard her name before that. He just couldn’t remember when. “So Sean’s the exception?” he asked.

“Definitely. Of course, it helped that she was engaged to me at the time.”

“Seriously?”

“Yep. Sean and I have always been competitive, especially when it comes to women.”

Chris had a lot more research to do, he realized. “And how about you?”

“Oh, well, I knew I was in love with Cass when I was in junior high. Then for a while there in my early adult years of stupidity, I managed to deceive myself. She kind of did the same thing for a while. But eventually we both saw the light.”

“Good thing,” Chris said. “Considering that you’re having a baby.”

Alex chuckled. “Very good thing.”

“Pregnancy doesn’t seem to have slowed her down. She’s still riding.”

“Not much slows Cassie Callahan down. But now I do have to let her win when we race.” A second later Alex yelped as something hit him in the back of the head.

He and Chris turned to see the hat Cassie had yanked off her head and thrown at him now lying on the ground. He scooped it up and tossed it back at her.

As she caught it, she said, “Watch it, Jameson. I heard that. And for your information, you’ve never let me win in your life. The only difference now is that you actually have a prayer of beating me.”

Alex’s grin was sheepish. “Unfortunately that’s true.” He turned around and walked faster toward the stables. And hopefully out of the hearing range of his fiancée.

“And what about Anne?” Chris asked, anxious to get back to the original subject of their conversation. “Is she as naïve when it comes to recognizing love?” As if he didn’t already know enough about her romantic history.

Alex raised his eyebrows and said, “You have your challenge cut out for you, my friend. My sister is even more stubborn than Skye is when it comes to men.”

“Great.”

“As far as I know, she’s never been in love, rather never let herself fall in love. That is, with a person.”

“Right, because she’s too in love with her dance.”

“Exactly.”

Chris sighed. He knew all this. And he now understood why she refused to get seriously involved with a man. But as challenging as it was, he wasn’t giving up. He was in way too deep.

“What were you and my brother talking about?” Anne asked Chris while the three horseback riders were brushing down their horses.

“Talking about? Sara? Horseback riding?” He hoped he sounded convincing. At least he wasn’t lying. “He seems nice.”

“He’s okay, for a big brother.” Anne nudged him with her shoulder. “You looked way too chummy.”

“He’s friendly.”

“Alex? Not so much. He’s an attorney.”

“Well, he was nice to me, but then we weren’t in court arguing over tenants’ rights and invasion of privacy.”

Anne laughed and Chris’s world lit up. He just hoped his eyes and the look on his face didn’t reveal the depth of his feelings. But then, if Alex was correct, the McCullough cousins were perceptive about everyone but themselves. Maybe he needn’t worry about Anne seeing through to his raw heart and knowing exactly what he felt for her. And if she did, maybe it was for the best. Maybe it was time she knew just how he felt about her. At least that way she’d understand his reasons for holding her off.

“What?”

“I’m just having trouble not kissing you right now,” he hedged.

“So, what’s the problem?”

“Kissing leads to other things.”

“As I said, so what’s the problem?”

“Your mom is across the field teaching a class. Your brother and his fiancé are in the stables with my niece. And I have no idea where your father is, but I suspect way too close for comfort.”

“That’s all?” she teased.

“We’re not making love, remember?”

“I remember.” She tucked her thumbs into her belt. “I was hoping you didn’t.”

“Sorry.”

“No, you’re not.”

“Yeah, I am. I wish to hell we could. I’d love nothing more than to kidnap you right this minute and hide you away in my bed for a week and make love to you.” He paused as he studied her eyes that were glazed over as she joined in his daydream. “And trust me, that’s exactly what I would do if not for the vulnerable position that would put my heart in.”

“Rumors,” she said. “Anything you’ve heard about me breaking hearts is totally a rumor.”

“I think we’ve had this conversation before.”

She frowned and jumped down from the fence she was sitting on, landing directly in front of him. Then she beamed up at him. “And we’ll keep having it until I convince you otherwise.” With that she strode off toward the stables.

Chris caught up to her in the inhale of a breath, grabbed her waist and spun her around, letting her down as he held her in his arms. His kiss was soft and slow and sensuous, and she felt her knees weakening. Why the hell did he have to be so stubborn? She pressed up against his instant erection, letting him know that she was completely aware of just how much he wanted her.

When he finally released her, she said, “I don’t know who you’re torturing more. Me or you.”

“It’s good to know it’s at least close to even,” he said, his voice husky with emotion. “And as for that conversation you plan to keep having, nothing’s going to change, not until you change your mind.”

“About what?”

“Letting yourself fall in love,” he said, then strode off for the stable, a step ahead of her.

She stood firmly on the ground beside the fence. She was afraid to move or else she might just fall over. Was that what this was about? Was he in love with her? But they’d just met! Yet he seemed to know her better than any man she’d dated for even three months. How had he done that? Or was she imagining it? 

Panic made it hard to breathe. She struggled to take deep breaths to calm herself. No way. He couldn’t be in love with her that fast. And if he was, what was she going to do about it? And even more importantly, what would he try to do about it? Would he be like the men Skye described? Out to steal her soul? Keep her barefoot and in the kitchen? 

She stared after him as he entered the stables. No way would he be like that. No way would he try to control her, change her. He was an artist. He understood. Yeah, but even if he understood, he’d want more than she could give. Eventually, if not immediately, he’d resent the time she spent dancing. And ultimately that would come between them. He’d want more and more of her time. And if she gave it to him, she would resent him. 

But that didn’t mean she couldn’t enjoy him. She had three months to enjoy him until her next tour. She just had to remember to keep her heart on a tight leash. And hope she didn’t break his in the process.