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“I’m glad you brought Chace. Now we won’t need to walk her after dinner. Your brothers and William are watching football.”
The joy his mother reaped from their family Sunday dinners always shone in Andrea’s sparkling green eyes. Whether expressing happiness, disappointment, or displeasure, one look was all it ever took to ensure he and his brothers would yield to her wishes.
“Holler when you want the dogs to settle down before coming inside.”
“They’re fine. Dinner in fifteen.”
Taking advantage of the girls’ continued distraction, he didn’t linger and strode into the den. A small fire crackled in the corner fireplace, the extra warmth adding to the cozy room. William rose from the sofa and handed Slade the opened beer sitting on the bar cart. “Score’s seven to seven, two minutes left in the fourth.”
“Mom won’t hold dinner or allow football during, so one better end it in that time,” he said, opting to take the recliner with a drink holder on the arm.
“How was your ride?”
From the expectation reflected in Reed’s tone, he wasn’t surprised one or both of the girls had told his brothers about the last-minute switch. Since his stepfather’s attention was on the game, Slade leaned forward and lowered his voice. “Please tell me they haven’t mentioned it to Mom.”
Brett grinned but William answered without taking his eyes off the television. “You would still be upstairs getting grilled if they had. Heard tell someone moved in out there at the Studman’s old place.”
“That’s all we told him after we came downstairs. Intercepted! Well, shit. There goes ten bucks.” Brett pulled out his wallet and handed the money to their stepfather as the game ended with a field goal.
“Then keep it that way. I don’t want her planning my wedding during dinner.”
“She’s not that bad. Come on. Let’s eat before the next game starts.”
Thirty minutes later, Slade leaned back in his chair, feeling good. As usual, his mother’s cooking and family relaxed him. That didn’t keep his mind off Nicole or the details she’d revealed about the assault that left her scarred inside and out. Glancing around the table, he could only imagine the difficulty of making those decisions with a loved one. Now he understood what had driven her to leave home and family and why she’d wanted solitude.
Speaking of family – wouldn’t they all love to know how entrenched he’d become in Nicole, and not only with her well-being. He couldn’t recall wanting a woman with such intensity, or one he couldn’t move on from without regrets or stop thinking about, itching to learn more every time he saw her.
Did he love her?
Across from Slade, Reed sat next to Lily, his arm draped over the back of her chair, fingers idly stroking her shoulder as he idly conversed with William on his opposite side. While passing the pork chop platter and vegetable bowls around the table, Brett would take each from Allie with a lingering touch on her hand or wrist. Subtle nuances that were so common now between the couples, even his mother had stopped noticing.
It was too soon to answer his question because he wouldn’t settle for less than what his brothers and mother now shared with their significant others. But he was closer than he’d ever been, and that told him something significant was developing with Nicole.
Allie leaned around Brett to look at him, her blue eyes alit with amusement, and he braced for what he knew she would say.
“How did Nicole like riding with you today?”
Damn.And here he’d believed he would get out of here keeping that tidbit from his mother a little longer.
“Nicole?” Andrea, seated at the head of the table, laid her hand on his forearm with a beaming smile. “Who’s that, dear?”
“Our new neighbor, Nicole Wells, and don’t go making more of it than giving her a riding lesson and showing her around, Mom.”
“Oh! Thank goodness she’s okay and well enough to ride. William and I were so worried when she refused to go to the hospital after that car hit her in the mercantile parking lot. I didn’t know she was the one who bought the Studman place.”
Slade stiffened and went cold inside, recalling with vivid clarity Nicole’s bruised thigh. Anger and concern over her evasive duplicity when he’d ask her about it roiled inside his gut.
“She didn’t mention it. What happened?” he asked, noticing everyone else’s worry.
“Damnedest thing,” William replied with a frown. “Idiot driver came speeding out of one of the rows then down the front of the restaurant and store. You’d think the hounds of hell were hot on his heels. I didn’t take the chance she could move fast enough and was right there. We both landed on the ground, and she favored her leg when she insisted she was fine and walked to her car. She wouldn’t hear of getting checked out though. Seemed uncomfortable with the crowd and attention.”
“She didn’t say a word when we made plans to take her out today. We should go over there tomorrow, Allie.” Lily’s voice reflected her constant compassion for others.
“Excuse me.” Slade had heard enough from William’s account. “Sorry to eat and run. Thanks, Mom, William.” He strode out without another word. None of them would expect further explanation anyway.
Irrational outrage churned inside him as he called to Chace and left through the backyard. It defied common sense to blame himself for not being there to protect Nicole against harm, to compare saving complete strangers using prewarned intel to blasting himself when someone he cared about was hurt when he lacked that prior knowledge. And whether he should or should not be so put out with her for not telling him, he was, and he made no excuses for that, driving to her place.
Stars lit up the night sky by the time he parked in front of her house, his blood still pumping hot enough to fend off the drop in temperature when he strode to the door and rapped loudly.
