The Texas Cowboy's Quadruplets. Cathy Thacker Gillen

Чтение книги онлайн.

СКАЧАТЬ

      “Consider me in, then.”

      “Splendid.” Walter opened the door. “See you shortly.” He headed back to his Bentley.

      Mitzy turned back to her ex. Another silence fell, this one more fraught with tension than the last. She wasn’t sure she wanted to know why he had just accepted an invitation that would have them spending even more potentially awkward time together. Unless it was to get under her skin. A feat that he had always been able to do extremely well. “You really don’t have to feel beholden to attend.”

      He shrugged, once again about as movable as a boulder. “I’m not.”

      Her nipples pearled under the hot male intensity of his gaze. “Surely, you have a McCabe family function.”

      He hovered closer, apparently done talking business—for the moment, anyway. “At eight this evening. Two of my brothers are working today, so my mom pushed our holiday gathering back until later. But if you’d rather not have me there to act as a buffer between you and your mother, I’d completely understand.”

      How well he knew her. And Judith.

      She studied him, tamping down the whisper of long-suppressed desire, and the notion they might ever make love again. “You’d really put yourself in the line of fire?” she asked, emotions in turmoil.

      He tipped his head at her. “For you, darlin’?” He winked. “I’d even put on that sport coat and tie I’ve got in the back of my truck.”

      Mitzy had almost forgotten how turned on she got by this inherently gallant side of him and it reinforced what she had to do. “How about, then,” she suggested brazenly, “we take it one step further...”

      * * *

      Chase had not seen Judith since he and Mitzy had broken up. He wasn’t surprised to see the petite dynamo hadn’t changed. Except to get thinner and blonder and even more elegant than she had been then.

      “You’re doing what?” the older woman gaped, after a brief explanation had been made.

      “Going to work together to find closure,” Mitzy repeated. She lifted a hand in traffic-cop fashion. “I know it sounds really basic, and in a sense it is, Mother, but the truth is Chase and I never really ended our engagement in a proper—or healthy—manner. And that lapse has kept us both from moving on the way we should.”

      Chase knew that to be true for him.

      He’d never gotten over losing Mitzy.

      It was a shock to hear her admit it so openly, though.

      “As a social worker, I should have realized this a whole lot sooner,” Mitzy opined, taking Chase by the hand, and leading him all the way into her cozy but well-equipped kitchen. She gestured for him to take a stool at the island, next to Walter, then sat down beside him. “But I didn’t and now that I have, I want to do something about it.”

      “Mmm-hmm.” Judith looked up from the mushroom tartlet canapés she was arranging on a silver tray.

      Like Mitzy, she was dressed in a chic dress and heels. A strand of diamonds glittered at her neck.

      Judith smoothed a hand over her pristine white chef’s apron. “And how long is this going to take?”

      Mitzy paused, seeming to be taken aback by the inquiry. “Um. I’m not sure.” She looked at Chase as if waiting to be rescued again. “At least...?”

      “Through the holidays,” he decided.

      That would give him plenty of time to figure out what that incredible kiss they’d shared earlier meant. Was she still, as it had seemed, as turned on by him as he was by her? Still privately wishing they’d never broken up. Or trying to prove to them both that it really was over between them. Romantically, anyway.

      Judith exchanged a look of concern with her husband. “And then what?” she asked.

      Mitzy shrugged. “We say goodbye.”

      Or not, Chase thought, figuring that could be negotiated, too. “When did you conclude all of this?” Judith asked.

      Pink color swept into Mitzy’s high sculpted cheeks. “Chase stopped by to see me a few days ago. And I, ah, I guess I started putting it all together. Today, I realized I should start following the advice I give my social work clients, and work though the residual emotions so I can move on.”

      “And, of course,” Chase added sincerely, “I want to do that, too.” More than Mitzy knew.

      In fact, he had wanted to help her for months now. But worrying his presence would make her grieving worse, he had stayed away.

      “Why didn’t you tell me about any of this?” Judith asked.

      Mitzy rose and went to pour glasses of chilled sparkling water for everyone, handing the elders theirs first. “Because I knew you’d probably think it was all unnecessary and wouldn’t approve.” As she turned to hand Chase his, their fingers brushed. A jolt of heat went through him.

      Mitzy’s smile was fixed as she slid back onto a high-backed stool, this time being very careful not to touch him in any way. “And I didn’t want to ruin your holiday. But since Walter found us together and the secret is out—” she turned to give Chase a bolstering glance “—Chase and I figured we might as well come clean. So you wouldn’t have to go to all the trouble of fixing me up with anyone else.”

      Fixing her up? Chase’s gut tightened with jealousy. Mitzy had said her mother wanted her married. She hadn’t said anything about any matchmaking! But of course, it made sense. This was why she wanted him here. Not just for closure. Which, he figured was real. But to be a detriment to her mother’s plans.

      “I see.” Judith’s eyes gleamed knowingly.

      She was on to Mitzy, too.

      The soft sound of a baby crying had Mitzy heading for the stairs. “I’m going to see if the nannies need any help,” she said.

      Judith turned to check on the turkey roasting in the oven, then faced off with Chase yet again. “I’m not sure how I feel about any of this,” she said.

      Chase wasn’t, either, if all it was, was a means to the end of him and Mitzy.

      “Maybe we should let the young people figure it out for themselves, sweetheart,” Walter said.

      “I can’t.” Judith continued, “You broke my daughter’s heart once.”

      Chase didn’t mind accepting blame where it was due but he wasn’t about to shoulder all of it. “I think a more apt description was that we broke each other’s hearts,” he clarified gruffly.

      Judith paused. In the awkward silence that fell, Chase could see Mitzy’s mother mentally going down the laundry list of all his faults.

      As expected, she tried once again to dissuade him.

      “The point is, Chase, Mitzy deserves more than you can give her.”

      Chase СКАЧАТЬ