Wilder Days. Linda Winstead Jones

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СКАЧАТЬ wasting your time, you know,” she said.

      “Making pancakes?” he asked, glancing over his shoulder.

      “Setting your sights on my mother,” she clarified with a sharp glance.

      “What makes you think I’ve set my sights on your mother?”

      She rolled her eyes. “Please. I saw you kiss her. You kidnapped me and dragged me to the middle of nowhere for a family vacation. What is it, Grandpa’s money? Hate to disappoint you, but he has it all. Mom pretty much told him to take a hike, years ago, so we don’t exactly share the wealth. If you want to get your hands on the Archard fortune, you’ll have to date Grandpa.”

      Del flipped pancakes. One kiss did not a sight-setting make, but it was a simpler explanation than the truth. Still, it had been a great kiss, and if he had his way… “Maybe I like her,” he said. “It doesn’t have to be more complicated than that.”

      “She has lots of boyfriends,” Noelle said sharply. “All of them better than you.”

      With his back to the girl, Del smiled widely. “Is that a fact? How could they possibly be better than me?”

      “They have jobs, they wear suits. They cut their hair.”

      “I have a job, I own a suit and what’s wrong with my hair?”

      He headed to the table with a plate full of small pancakes. Without being asked, Noelle jumped up and went to the refrigerator for syrup and juice. “Nothing,” she said as she returned to the table. “If you actually enjoy looking like a reject from the seventies.”

      Del gave her a big grin as he moved a stack of pancakes to his plate.

      Annoyed that her plan wasn’t working, Noelle lifted her chin and tried another tactic. “Besides, you don’t want to get involved with my mother. She’s psycho.”

      “Psycho?”

      Noelle piled her own plate high. “Yep.”

      “Can you give me some examples?”

      Noelle pursed her lips. “She freaks whenever I mention dating. I can only go out if it’s a special occasion, a double date, and even then I have to go with someone she knows and approves of.”

      Del shook his head. “You’re right. Psycho.”

      His sarcasm didn’t get past her. “I was born on Christmas Eve and she named me Noelle Eve. Noelle Lowell, can you believe that? Everyone makes it rhyme. But I guess I should consider myself lucky. What if I’d been born on Easter, or Valentine’s Day, or…Thanksgiving?”

      “Little Turkey Lowell.”

      She stuck her tongue out at him.

      “Noelle is a very pretty name,” Del said. “Now, eat your pancakes.”

      She did, digging in and dismissing their conversation.

      His breakfast finished, Del walked into the living room and collected his cigarettes from the end table. When he returned to the kitchen, Noelle had finished eating and sat there with her eyes on the window and the view beyond. She was, no doubt, thinking about her father and his refusal of her request. Poor kid.

      When she saw the cigarettes in his hand, her eyes lit up. “Can I have one?” she asked.

      “No.”

      Again, she stuck her tongue out at him. “Selfish.”

      “I just don’t want your mother to, you know, kill me.” He lit up, and Noelle rolled her eyes. “Besides,” he added, “these things are not good for you.”

      “And they’re good for you?”

      “Think of me as a bad example.”

      Noelle pushed her chair back and gave him a glare that said she wished she could do murder, here and now. “Don’t worry,” she said. “I already do.”

      Vic dabbed at the canvas on the easel before her. The light here on the front porch was great, the scene before her was magnificent, but she couldn’t make herself concentrate on painting. Usually painting saved her, took her mind off of anything and everything. Not today. Del Wilder was stronger—pulled more effectively at her heart—than this vocation she’d lost herself in for most of the past fifteen years.

      Even if the screen door hadn’t squeaked, she would have known that Del was behind her. He charged the air with his very presence, he set every nerve in her body on alert.

      “The kid’s taking a nap,” he said, his voice low. “She didn’t like my suggestion that we take a hike this afternoon, and when I mentioned fishing instead, she told me to…” He took a deep breath. “Well, I think it’s impossible, and even if it was possible it would definitely be unpleasant.”

      Vic set down her brush and turned to face Del. “I’m sorry. She knows better….”

      “Don’t sweat it.” He flashed her a wide smile. “She’s a good kid. Not at all like you were at that age, all sugar and very little spice, but still a good kid. Likes to stir up trouble, doesn’t she?”

      Vic found herself returning Del’s smile. “Oh, yeah.”

      It would be so simple, right now, to say, “She’s so much like you.” But she didn’t. Her mind was made up. Del was here, for a little while, but he wasn’t staying. And he wouldn’t have the opportunity to break Noelle’s heart. Vic still wasn’t sure about her own.

      He walked closer, took her hand and stared down at the bandages on her fingers. “How are they?”

      “Fine.”

      His head cocked up, his eyes met hers. “Really?”

      Vic could only nod as Del lifted her hand and kissed the palm. Quickly. Sweetly. And that simple contact sent shivers through her body.

      “I understand you’re dating,” he said as he dropped her hand.

      The surprise must’ve shown on her face because Del’s smile grew wider. “Lots of guys,” he continued. “Who wear suits and cut their hair and have jobs.”

      “Noelle.”

      The twinkle in Del’s eyes was the answer. “So, if I asked you to take a nice long walk in the woods, would I be stepping on some man’s toes?”

      “I’m not dating,” Vic said, ignoring his offer of a walk in the woods. “I mean, I have, but…not lately.”

      “Why not?” She tried to return to her easel, but Del’s hand on her shoulder stopped her. “Still in love with Presto?”

      “No!” she said, too sharply. “God, no.”

      “You’re a beautiful woman, smart, sexy. I can’t imagine why there aren’t guys crawling all over you.”

      Vic shuddered, just a little.

      “Vic?” СКАЧАТЬ