“It’ll be fine. The boys are taking care of the harvest, so I’m sitting back and being a man of leisure this fall.” He winked. “You and me, we could enter the three-legged race and still be a leg short.”
They laughed, their injuries another common bond between them.
Robbie tugged Mike’s one good pant leg. “How do chickens and moose play together?”
A serious expression crossed the older man’s face. “Excellent question. How about I explain while you enjoy some picnic food?” He glanced at Beth for permission and she nodded. A bit of positive male interaction in Robbie’s life was exactly what he needed. “We’ll meet you for coffee and dessert later.”
Beth wandered, working her way around the fair grounds. The measured gait she found most comfortable with her brace wasn’t as noticeable amongst the slow-moving crowds. The bright sunshine lit not only the sky but some of the dark places in her heart. The pace of life here in Rocky was slower. The people, while not all friendly, were a lot more open to talking to her on the street corner than in Calgary where she’d barely known her neighbours after ten years of living in the same house. The sense of being an outsider hadn’t struck her yet, perhaps because she’d stepped into the school system and had an instant group of associates. Some of her co-workers were locals who had returned to teach in their alma mater. Some were newer teachers putting in time at a smaller school in the hopes of transferring back to the big city.
And her. Wondering where she fit for the long term.
Working full-time outside the house for the first time in years was physically draining, especially with the extra weight of the brace and her leg injury still giving her grief. The boys were a handful, brimming with energy and excitement. They were easier to deal with now that she didn’t have her husband’s exacting demands to meet as well.
She sat by the outdoor stage to listen to the local band and let her mind wander. Her husband—being free from his overbearing expectations and his downright emotional cruelty made every day worthwhile, no matter how exhausted she was when she fell into bed. The pain in her leg and hip were nothing compared to the pain he’d caused in their lives on a regular basis.
No, life was good. She had little to complain about.
If the house occasionally creaked at night and frightened her, or the wind blew around the porch with a lonely sound, she was better off by herself than letting her family continue to suffer under the hands of a tyrant.
She closed her eyes and listened to the music. The band played a few country songs, followed by some hard rock. The electric guitar was slightly out of tune, and the occasional louder dissonance brought a smile to her face. The heat of the sun pulled her into drowsing, laughter and voices and music melding together into a far more relaxing lullaby than the clatter of the city. Beth breathed deep. Even the smells surrounding her felt right.
A long time later a clanging bell shook her from her tranquil rest. The community people congregated around the food tent for coffee and dessert. She ambled over, reluctant to lose the relaxed state she’d achieved. Lance and Nathan raced up, faces glowing with excitement to chatter about all they’d done. Other boys gathered with them, pushing and wrestling good-naturedly. The adults in the lineup worked together to calm and seat the unruly crew at the long tables. Pies and cakes before them, the clamour of little-boy voices vanished as their mouths filled.
“Amazing, isn’t it?” Mike patted Robbie on the back, and he scrambled between his brothers, eager to attack his plate. “The only time our house ever got quiet when my boys were little was during meals.”
Beth smiled. “I don’t mind the noise. Especially the laughter.”
Mike shook his head. “Well, they laughed, but with six boys, the shouting is the thing I remember most.”
She frowned as they headed over to another table to grab coffee. “Six? I’ve only met two—Blake and Travis. I didn’t know you had six children.”
“Are you serious? I thought you’d have met them all by now. It’s not that big a town. Although, they’re not round the school that much since they’re all older. Come on, I can introduce you to two more. They’re right up here.”
He gestured her forward. Ahead, standing behind the coffee table, were familiar-looking identical twins. She frowned as she tried to place their faces. Maybe she had seen them around town. They looked somewhat like their older brother, Blake.
One of them glanced up and smiled, a devastating and seductive grin, and memory rolled over her. Oh no. It was the pair from her disastrous bar adventure back in July.
“Beth, I’d like to introduce Jesse and Joel, my youngest boys.”
Twin number one grinned wider. “I know you. You decided to try and find the gypsies?”
She swallowed hard and mindlessly accepted the cup of coffee he offered. No. No, this was not real. “You live here?”
He nodded, his brows rising. “And someone else lives here too you might be interested in. He was mighty vocal when a certain phone number turned out to be disconnected.”
Beth froze in dismay. This couldn’t be happening. Not when she’d started to set down roots. Could one night of foolishness really ruin her plans?
“Speak of the devil…” Jesse’s bright blue eyes stared past her shoulder, and she cringed inside. She held the coffee cup like a shield and rotated on the spot to see her handsome cowboy approaching. His gaze met hers, and the expression on his face changed in an instant. The friendly smile vanished, shock replacing it, followed by a tinge of anger.
Her cup slipped from her trembling fingers as fear and regret took control.
Chapter Three
Daniel forced his feet to continue moving even as his brain scrambled to recover from his shock. She looked different than he remembered. Somehow happier, more content, at least until the panic set in. Her face had gone completely white, and she trembled before him, her spilt coffee cup at her feet. She rubbed her fingers together.
“Beth, you okay?” Mike reached for her, but Daniel moved quicker. He had no idea where in the hell she’d come from, but there was no way she was getting away again. He scooped the cup from the ground then turned her, one arm loosely around her waist as he guided her to a nearby chair at one of the long tables arranged on the lawn.
“Sit down before you fall down.” She shivered, and he barked over his shoulder at his brother. “Pour her another cup of coffee and add a couple of sugars to it.”
“I don’t need anything. I’m fine.” Her gaze darted around them, and Daniel finally realized she was embarrassed by the attention they were drawing. He rose from where he’d squatted beside her, seating himself on the next chair.
“Of course you’re fine. Now, can I get you a piece of pie to go with your coffee?” They could pretend this was normal meeting at a picnic until everyone found something else to stare at. He would wait until he got her alone to wring some answers from her pretty lips.
He’d been surprised how much her deception had upset him. Somehow he’d imagined she’d felt an inkling of what he’d experienced that night in the bar. He could have sworn there was a connection between them. When he’d discovered the number she gave him was out of service, and there was no Beth Jackson in the phone book, he should have simply laughed and written the scene off as an interesting encounter.
Only, he couldn’t. She’d haunted him. Her confused eyes full of passion and fear, her stubborn determination to try to seduce him. Hell, the only reason he’d even gone out that night was because the twins had taunted him to the point of insanity. Meeting her—he thought it had been his reward, especially when she softened in his arms. When she switched from trying to be a sex kitten into a warm submissive woman, curved in all the right places. He thought he’d found someone he really wanted to get to know better.