One-Click Buy: March 2009 Harlequin Blaze Page 10

  “And I’m willing to answer any questions you might have,” Trey put in. “Fire away.”

  “All right,” Delta said, giving him her full attention. “You’re on the road all year, Whip. Are you planning to take her with you? Or are you planning to travel alone and leave her behind?”

  Trey didn’t even hesitate. “She’ll be with me every day. I’m not going to let her out of my sight.”

  Cardin cringed. No doubt one of her parents would twist that into some sort of disturbed possessiveness.

  “She’ll live in a motor home, then? Or in a motel?” Delta paused for a heartbeat. “She won’t have a house of her own?”

  “No, Mrs. Worth. I didn’t say that. Of course she’ll have a house.”

  “Where?”

  “Wherever she wants it. Right here is fine.”

  “I thought you were selling your place and cutting your ties with Dahlia.”

  Trey took a deep breath. “I’m selling the house I grew up in. That doesn’t mean I can’t buy or build another here for her.”

  “Just not for you,” Eddie added.

  Cardin couldn’t stay out of it any longer. “Of course it will be for him, too, Daddy. When it’s time. For now, though, being with Trey is all that matters. Whether that’s traveling in a motor home, or staying in motel rooms. I don’t care.”

  “What kind of life is that, Cardin?”

  When Trey stiffened beside her, Cardin bit her tongue and let him answer.

  “Excuse me, sir, but it’s the one I live now, and I think it’s a pretty damn good one.”

  “She’s my little girl,” Eddie said, his eyes darkening.

  “And I respect that. But she’s also a woman. One who has consented to be my wife.”

  “Wouldn’t that make this asking permission thing a sham?”

  “I proposed to Trey, Daddy.” Cardin swore her head was about to pop. “He’s the one who insisted we talk to you and Mom.”

  Eddie sat straight, crossing his arms over his chest. “Then I guess if you’ve made up your mind, there’s nothing much we can say.”

  “You can give Trey your blessing,” she told her father, feeling some of Trey’s tension drain.

  “I don’t mean to be a disappointment to you, sir.”

  “Oh, Whip. You’re not a disappointment,” Cardin’s mother finally said. “This just came out of the blue. And, no, a life on the road is not exactly what we would have chosen for our daughter. But it isn’t our choice, is it? As long as you make her happy…”

  “That much I can guarantee you.”

  “In that case, I only have one other question.”

  Cardin waited, waited, thought she might throw up.

  “Do you love her?”

  One thing they hadn’t talked about. Love. Cardin had assumed her parents would accept that as a given. She looked from her mother to Trey who had turned his gaze on her. She had no idea what he was going to say. No idea what she wanted to hear.

  When he smiled, his dimples nearly killed her. “I have to say after a year of being apart, these last twenty-four hours have been the best of my life.”

  Cardin swallowed. She couldn’t speak. She knew he wasn’t declaring his love for her, that he was only talking about the sex, but the look in his eyes left her breathless, left her wishing that he loved her as much as she loved him. Because she did. She loved him. She loved him.

  “That’s not what her mother asked you, Whip,” Eddie said. “She asked you if you love our daughter.”

  It didn’t matter that they were lying about everything else, Cardin was not going to put this burden on Trey. She looked at him, smiled, and covered his hand with hers. “He loves me. And I love him. I wouldn’t have asked him to marry me if I wasn’t sure of his feelings.”

  Delta reached to touch Cardin’s hand where it lay on top of Trey’s, and held Eddie’s with her free one, glancing at him as if to say, This is the man our daughter has chosen. There is nothing we can do.

  It made Cardin sad, but it also pissed her off. Even if she wasn’t really marrying Trey, he was a good man. He deserved better than this from her parents. “Don’t look so glum, Mom. You and Dad may not have been able to weather the hard times, but Trey and I will be fine.”

  At that, Delta stiffened, pulled her hand away and looked to Eddie for support. Good. That was what Cardin wanted. Getting her parents working together was the whole point of this deception. She would dig at them as often and as hard as she needed to see it happen.

  Eddie said nothing, simply returning Delta’s gaze. Cardin could see, however, that he was biting his tongue. She scrambled for something more to pressure them with, but at the moment was all lied out.

  At the last minute, Trey saved her. “I don’t know if the rest of you have eaten, but I’ve got to have some dinner. My treat.”

  “I’ve been here twelve hours,” Eddie said, shaking his head. “I’m going to head on home. Thanks for the offer, though.”

  “Anytime.”

  Eddie splayed his hands flat on the table as if to push up, but stopped, his gaze traveling from Cardin to Trey and back. And then he held out his hand to Trey. “You take good care of her.”

  “I will, sir,” Trey said, clasping Eddie’s hand solidly and giving it a firm shake. “You can count on it.”

  Nodding, Eddie got to his feet. Delta followed. Trey stood as well, leaving Cardin uncertain what to do—until she caught her mother’s eye. “Aren’t you going to go put in an order for Whip’s dinner?”

  “Oh, sure,” Cardin said, climbing off the bench, already a domestic goddess failure. “What’ll you have?”

  “Whatever you’re going to have,” he told her. “Because you have to eat, too. We’ve still got a lot of work to do in the barn before we can even think about turning in.”

  Since all they’d done in the barn today was play ball. She started to walk by him, but he caught her and held her close, planting a quick kiss on her cheek, leaving her flustered and her face heated.

  With Sandy Larabie, Cardin’s parents and the rest of the dining room looking on, Trey had just staked his claim publicly, leaving no doubt about the nature of their relationship.

  Cardin wasn’t sure she’d make it to the kitchen without fainting. Was there anything more stressful than telling a lie?

  She put in a rush order for two bacon cheeseburger baskets, then for the next ten minutes hid out in a restroom stall. She didn’t want to be grilled by Sandy, or be caught staring at her parents and Trey, wondering what they were talking about, what questions they were asking him, what holes in their story Cardin had left that Trey was now having to fill.

  She sat there on the toilet lid, and buried her face in her hands, listening as two little girls came in, giggling and whispering before flushing, chattering while washing their hands. She wanted to tell them to enjoy being ten years old. That being twenty-five sucked.

  The truth, of course, was that her age had nothing to do with anything. What sucked was telling the people she loved most a big fat lie—especially when the lie itself felt as good as this one was feeling.

  Before Cardin made the mistake of taking that thought any further, she shored herself up and returned to the kitchen, picking up her order and carrying the food to Trey. He was sitting alone now, frowning, and running the pad of one finger over a gouge in the table much as her father had done.

  This time she sat across from him rather than at his side. “I’m sensing some regret here.”

  A grin tugged at one side of his mouth. “I’m not sure regret’s the right word. I’m just trying to figure out how much trouble I’m in. Your parents weren’t exactly happy.”

  She slid their burger baskets off the serving tray and set it aside, then picked up a fresh cut steak fry and ate it. “You don’t need to worry about being in any trouble. I’m the one who’ll have to clean up the mess.”

  “Cardin,” he began, but she cut him off.

  “I started it, Trey. I’ll finish i
t. All you have to do is play along.”

  He bit into his burger, chewed thoughtfully and swallowed, while she toyed with another fry. “I’m still trying to figure out what made me the bad guy.”

  “Besides the fact that you’re bedding me?”

  Trey arched a brow. “You really think anyone else would’ve got the same treatment? That this was just about our sleeping together?”

  He was right. It wasn’t. Her parents had reacted to her fraternizing with the enemy—exactly as she’d planned. “Sorry.”

  “Yeah. That’s what I thought.” He shook his head, then bit into his burger again.

  For a moment she considered taking it all back, offering him a way out, telling the whole truth to her parents. Just as quickly, the moment passed.

  Making Trey comfortable wasn’t her objective. And even as the thought crossed her mind, she gave herself a bitch slap. He was doing her a huge favor. She should care about his feelings—and for even bigger reasons she wasn’t ready to voice.

  She looked up from her own basket of food to make him the offer, but held her tongue when she saw Tater Rawls standing right behind, his thick strawberry blonde hair tousled, a wicked gleam in his eye.

  He held a finger to his lips to shush her, then brought both of his hands down hard on Trey’s shoulders. “What the hell, man? You’re sticking in town and you don’t even tell your homeboy hello?”

  “Goddamn you Tater Rawls.” Trey reached for his napkin to clean up the food he’d spit all over the place. “Give a guy some warning, would ya?”

  “How the hell ya been?” Tater asked, straddling the bench on Trey’s side of the table, the two men shaking hands.

  Cardin knew she wasn’t going to eat the rest of her food, so she slid it across to Trey’s best friend.

  “Are you sure?” he asked. “I mean, I ate in back with Sandy before she clocked in, but I can always eat more.”

  “Then eat it. I’m going to duck out and let you and Trey catch up.” Tater showing up like this gave her a chance to stop at home and shower, though sneaking upstairs without getting a grilling from Eddie was going to be tough.

  “I’ll see you later then,” Trey said, grabbing her wrist and pulling her across the table for a kiss.

  “Hey, hey, now. What’s all this?” Tater asked, wrapping his hands around Cardin’s burger and biting a quarter away.

  “I guess you’ll be hearing soon enough,” Trey said, giving her a wink as he sat back down. “Cardin and I are engaged.”

  13

  “YOU AND CARDIN WORTH? Engaged? What the hell?” Tater asked, having held his questions until he and Trey were alone. “Sounds like this is going to require a lot more explanation than we’ve got time for tonight, bro.”

  Trey had watched Cardin leave, then taken a bite of his burger and a gulp of his beer, ignoring the look of astonishment on Tater’s face. The other man’s doubts, however, he couldn’t ignore. Not when Tater had been a rock through most of Trey’s life.

  The fact that he had made the blow sting all the more. “I figured you of all people would be happy for me. For us.”

  “I didn’t say I wasn’t happy.” Tater paused as if wanting to make sure this time he was heard. “All I said was, what the hell? I mean, who wouldn’t be happy?”

  “Try the only other people we’ve told,” Trey said, annoyed at too many things to name.

  “I’m going to guess that’s her folks.”

  “Bin-go.” Trey reached for the pitcher to refill his mug. Tater reached for the one Cardin had left, shrugging an apology for taking something that belonged to Trey’s woman.

  Trey’s woman. He liked the way that sounded. He liked it a lot. “Yeah. Eddie and Delta weren’t too thrilled, though they finally gave us their blessing…”

  Tater sputtered. “If you actually asked them, you’re a braver soul than I.”

  Huh? “Why wouldn’t I ask?”

  “I’m not saying you shouldn’t. But knowing her parents have been through a lot…” Gathering his thoughts, Tater screwed his mouth to one side, a motion that left him looking like a strawberry blond and freckled Popeye. “Did what Cardin tell you match up with the reality of how bad things are between them?”

  Trey had to say no. So far, he hadn’t seen much—if any—of the conflict between them that had driven Cardin to these lengths. “Not really, but then I’ve spent most of my time here with her. I gotta say, though, they did a pretty damn good job of taking sides against us.”

  Which was exactly what Cardin had wanted. Trey wondered if she was celebrating their response, or feeling as beat up as he was.

  “Man, I don’t get that at all.” Tater swooped three fries through the pool of ketchup he’d poured and scarfed them down like a starving man—not one weighing the same one-eighty he had when they’d hit the football field as seniors. “I would think their siding together would be both of them jumping for joy, you know? What parents wouldn’t want you for a son-in-law?”

  That gave Trey a chuckle. “Thanks, but I can see where they’re coming from, too. Life on the road isn’t for everyone.”

  “It seems to suit you okay. You don’t get back but once a year to say hello.”

  Did it suit him? Trey wondered. Or was it just what he did because he loved the work? And why was he even asking himself these questions? He and Cardin weren’t really engaged. They weren’t going to be living on the road, or anywhere together.

  He was getting worked up over a relationship that wasn’t going to have any real impact on his life. Except it already had. Over and over. Time after time. Starting in high school, long before that night when he’d leaned her into the wall, and growing so strong that when she’d come to see him the other morning in the pits, he’d felt it like the slam of a knee to his midsection.

  “So,” Tater started, between bites. “When did you guys finally hook up? And why the big hush?”

  Trey pushed the rest of his burger aside, wiped his hands, and thought long and hard about telling Tater the truth, but knew he couldn’t do that to Cardin. And as raw as he was feeling right now, as exposed and unsettled, this wasn’t a good time to be making decisions that he might later regret.

  He went with their well-rehearsed story. “Last year. At the Farron Fuels.”

  “What? You’ve been having phone sex all this time or something? Because I know you haven’t been back.”

  His father had been living in Ohio when he’d passed, and nothing else would’ve brought Trey to Dahlia. “We’ve kept in touch by phone, yeah. And e-mail. And text messaging.”

  “Not my idea of a relationship, but whatever flips your switch.”

  Since Tater had opened the door…“And your idea of a relationship is to date Sandy Larabie?”

  Tater laughed weakly. “It’s all in good fun, man.”

  So Tater’s romance was as much of a lie as Trey’s. “Does Sandy know that?”

  “It’s not like that,” Tater said, shaking his head. “We’re just helping each other out. You know how these things are.”

  Trey knew all too well. Which made it even more interesting that the rumors of Tater and Sandy’s romance had no more veracity than the ones which would soon be swirling about him and Cardin. “A man’s gotta do what a man’s gotta do.”

  “That’s about the size of it,” his friend said, polishing off the rest of the food in the basket Cardin had given him.

  Trey wanted to ask what exactly was going on with the lanky goofball who’d been his best friend throughout school. But this wasn’t the time or place, and he figured they didn’t have enough beer for that conversation anyway.

  Besides, even had they wanted to go there, Jeb Worth stopping by the table just then put a stop to all but shop talk.

  He held his cowboy hat by the brim with both hands, and if his white shirt had had a badge pinned above the pocket, he couldn’t have looked more like a lawman. “You boys mind if I join you?”

  “Not at all, sir,” Trey answered, thoug
h the older man had already settled across the table.

  Wasting no time, he turned his attention to Trey. “Have you made up your mind?”

  Apparently, this was Trey’s day to be put on the spot. “Like I said yesterday, I’m going to have to take a look at the car first.”

  “What’s this?” Tater asked, his gaze moving curiously from one man to the other. “What am I missing out on here?”

  Though he spoke to Tater, Jeb kept his sharp gray gaze on Trey. “I asked Whip to drive White Lightning in the Moonshine Run.”

  “No kidding.” Tater’s hangdog expression gained him no sympathy from Trey. “If I was the type to feel sorry for myself, I’d have to dub this nobody tells me anything day.”

  Trey cringed. He and Cardin hadn’t yet mentioned the engagement to her grandfather. He waited for Jeb to prod Tater for more, but the older man’s focus was adamant. “You need to come out to the house. Take a look. The race is in a couple of weeks.”

  “Then how about tomorrow afternoon? Between three and four? I can head over about the same time Cardin leaves for work.”

  “What’s Cardin got to do with anything?”

  Tater let out a loud whoop and smacked his hand against the table so hard, both his and Trey’s food baskets hopped, and the two inches of beer left in the pitcher sloshed from side to side. “Then I’m not the only one who didn’t know.”

  “Know what?” Jeb asked, and Trey could only shake his head.

  Tater slapped him on the shoulder. “Ol’ Whip here’s about to become your grandson-in-law.”

  DELTA LET EDDIE TALK HER into following him home. She would’ve felt a whole lot better about coming here if it wasn’t just the bad times that had them looking to each other for strength. Why did it take this unsettling news, this…mess to turn their conversations civil again?

  It wasn’t even yet ten o’clock, she realized, climbing the steps to where Eddie stood waiting, backed into the screen door and holding the front one open with his hand, and yet she felt like she could fall asleep on a dime. She chalked it up to the rollercoaster of feelings that had scooped her up yesterday and hadn’t yet set her back on her feet.