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“Then,” Craig put his cup down on the saucer, “you won’t care that Jared called this morning.”
“Oh.” Did her voice crack?
“Yeah.” Craig bit back a smile. “He might have mentioned something about stopping by.”
“Here?” Great, she went from a cracked voice to a squeaky voice.
“I’m pretty sure he didn’t mean my place in Austin.”
“Oh.” Finally, a word in her normal voice. “Then he’s coming to see you.”
Craig took such a long and slow sip of his coffee it probably would have qualified for a Guinness World record. Eve took a bite of her eggs and did her utmost best to pretend she didn’t care one iota what Mr. Sun-kissed Hair did or didn’t do.
The doorbell rang and she nearly spit out her food. At this hour on a Saturday, she hadn’t bothered with makeup, her hair was clipped in a makeshift bun on the top of her head, and of course she had to throw on a pair of baggy old sweats this morning. Had she known they were having company she would have at least donned something more put together.
“Morning.” Craig pointed to the coffee pot on the buffet as their guest entered the room. “Would you like a cup?”
Hat in his hand, Jared nodded. “That would be great. I barely had time this morning to knock back a few sips.”
The puppy had leapt off Gram’s lap and she and her sibling were now dancing circles around Jared’s booted feet.
“Honey. Moon.” Grams snapped her fingers at the pups whose wagging rear ends immediately plopped on the floor as they stared up at their mistress. “Please make yourself at home.” Grams gestured to one of the empty seats at the table. “This is such a pleasant surprise.”
“Thank you.” He tipped his head at Eve and smiled. “You were quite the hit last night.”
“Told ya.” Craig sprouted a toothy satisfied grin. Why he seemed to find this situation so amusing, she didn’t quite understand. Normally he’d be chasing off a suitor with a loaded shotgun.
Pouring a tall cup of java, Jared’s gaze subtly shifted from Craig to her. Thankfully he had the good manners to leave her brother’s comment alone. Instead, his attention turned to her grandmother. “Is the Governor around?”
“I’m afraid not.” Grams shook her head. “He had an early meeting this morning. Is it urgent?”
“No.” His eyes casually glanced in her direction before returning to the family matriarch. “But one of your bulls has breached the south fence.”
“Again?” Grams sighed. “I swear we got an ornery crop of bovine this season.”
“I shored it up for now, but it might be time to steel up that section if y’all are going to keep the bulls in that pasture.”
“The Governor mentioned something about that at dinner the other night,” Craig said.
“Figured since we share the fence line, I needed to talk to your grandfather before I make too many plans.”
“You thinking of doing this yourself or hiring out?” Craig asked.
His gaze briefly drifting in her direction, Jared lifted the corners of his mouth in a slight hint of a smile before returning to the conversation with her brother. “I guess that depends on how many of you remember how to work a ranch.” Now that essence of a lazy grin sprouted into a full-blown smile.
She resisted the urge to shake her head. Just how she wanted to start her morning, overseeing a pissing contest between two overgrown boys.
The way the muscles in Craig’s jawline twitched, she knew the wide smile was a precursor to a testosterone challenge. “Don’t need to remember something you don’t forget.”
Jared bobbed his head. “Good, then we can count on you for a little hard day’s work.”
“And my brothers.”
Oh, weren’t her other brothers going to be thrilled to learn that Craig had volunteered them to build a steel fence. She knew for a fact that both the Golds as well as the Barons could afford to contract a project of that magnitude, but she also knew generations of cowboy genetics, combined with good old-fashioned male DNA, meant these boys were going to have to prove to each other that they still had the right stuff.
The conversation continued long enough for Eve to finish her breakfast and consider whether or not last night’s dance had anything to do with this visit. She was pretty sure that normally this sort of business discussion would have happened over the telephone. After all, she had spent a bazillion weekends here in the last decade, and Jared Gold had not once set foot on their doorstep. On the other hand, maybe a large expensive project like this did indeed require face-to-face discussion.
“I hate to eat and run.” Craig pushed away from the table. “But I have a meeting with a Hollywood diva who bought the rights to a book and wants us to produce it.”
