The Groom, I Presume?

“Looks like life’s been treating you fair enough,” he said, deliberately covering his intense reaction to her. “You look as frisky as one of those fillies out there.” He motioned to one of the enclosed pastures with a nod of his head.

She chuckled nervously, and used the back of her wrist to shove wisps of curls off her forehead. “I look like a saddle tramp, and I know it. As you can see, I wasn’t expecting company.” She looked around as though unsure of what to do next. “I, uh, didn’t expect to see you for another couple of days. I suppose Bobby told you the wedding rehearsal and dinner are scheduled for Friday.” She turned away and began to straighten various items hanging on the side of the stall.

“Yeah, he told me.” He glanced around the barn. “Looks like you’ve got enough to keep you busy these days.”

She picked up a saddle blanket and motioned him to follow her back to the tack room. “Well, I needed to do something. Once Bobby decided to follow in Travis’s footsteps and take up the rodeo circuit, Travis offered to give me a job as one of the trainers.”

“He’s doing well, isn’t he?”

“Travis? You bet. Things couldn’t be better.”

“I was thinking about Bobby.”

She continued to be too busy to look at him. “Yes. He’s making a real name for himself.”

Maribeth put the currycomb and saddle blanket away before leading the way to the entrance of the barn. Pausing in the wide doorway, she looked out at the view.

“You know, Chris, sometimes it’s hard for me to realize that the three of us are twenty-six years old. You and Bobby left and started working on your careers, while I seem to have gotten caught up in some kind of time warp.” She turned and faced him, wrapping her arms around her waist. “All I’ve done is stay here on the ranch. I’ve spent most of my life here.” She gave her head a tiny shake. “Not that I’m complaining. Bobby and I always planned to live on his family’s place after we got married. It’s the only life I know, after all. It just seems a little strange to realize that four years have gone by and I’ve done nothing more with my life.”

“When was the last time you talked to Bobby?”

She tilted her head back and closed her eyes. “Let me think. He called last week. He was in Nashville at the time. He’d done well and was high on his success. However, he made a cross-his-heart-and-hope-to-die promise that he would be here no later than noon on Friday.” She looked at him as though daring him to doubt Bobby’s word.

Chris nodded, unwilling to comment on that particular subject at the moment. “He’s still winning a goodly share of the bull-riding events, I suppose.”

“Yep, trying his best to win world champion. You know that’s been his dream for years.” She grinned at Chris. “I doubt that he’ll ever beat Travis’s record, but he sure wants to try. He deserves that chance.”

Chris had his own opinion of what Bobby deserved, but once again, he refrained from sharing it with her. Instead he motioned to the new pastures and their occupants with a sweeping arm gesture. “Speaking of Travis, this is quite an operation he’s got going here. I’m impressed.”

“Isn’t it amazing? He’s really done well. Of course he’d built a name for himself in the business while he was following the circuit, which didn’t hurt when he decided to stay home. Every time I ask Bobby when he’s going to head back home, he reminds me of the legend of Travis Kane and how much effort he needs to work in order to make as big a splash.”

“I guess I’ve lost touch with what’s been happening in Agua Verde county these past few years. I thought Bobby was already working with his dad until he called to ask me to be his best man at the wedding. I guess I’d sort of figured you’d gone ahead and gotten married without inviting me.”

“You should know better than that, Chris. Bobby would never get married without you by his side. Y’all used to talk about that. You’d each be there for the other.”

“I remember. I’ll admit I was surprised to find out he’d been traveling for most of these years. It must have been hard on you.”

Maribeth heard the sympathy in his voice. Darn it. Seeing Chris again so unexpectedly was bringing up all kinds of emotions that she wasn’t ready to deal with. But wasn’t that normal for a bride-to-be? She wasn’t having any doubts. Of course not. Why, she’d loved Bobby forever and then some. In three days she would be married, after years of making plans.

“I’ll admit that I’ve missed him during some of his longer road trips. At first, he’d come home every week or two. Then later, it was mostly a month at a time before he’d make it home.” She could no longer hold Chris’s steady gaze and looked away. “It will be different once we’re married.”

“Will it?”

She glanced back at him. “Well, of course it will. We’ll be living together, then. He’ll be home more.”

“Has he told you that? Or is that what you’re hoping?”

“Well, if he’s still traveling, then I’ll go with him.” She tilted her chin slightly. “There won’t be anything wrong with his wife traveling with him. He just needs a little time to settle down, that’s all. He’s still young.”

Chris raised one of his eyebrows quizzically. “We’re all the same age, remember?”

Maribeth smiled. “Maybe so, but you were born old, Chris. I swear. When I look back at some of the things the three of us did together when we were kids, I figure the only way we managed to scrape by as well as we did was because you always saved our butts.”

“Well, you have to admit that you and Bobby are a bit impulsive.”

She shook her head emphatically. “Not me. Not anymore. I’m grown up now.” She waved to the row of stalls behind them. “I’m steadily employed, thanks to Travis. I have a fulfilling job, a great family and a whole passel of nieces and nephews. Why, my life couldn’t be better!”

What could he possibly say to that? He let the silence that fell between them speak for itself. When it stretched into an uncomfortable length, Chris reached over and gently tugged on the thick plait of hair draped over her shoulder. “How about taking a ride with me?” he asked. “I’ll show off my newest toy.”

He could almost see the tension leaving her body. She pushed the wisps of hair off her forehead with a gesture that made him ache with a sense of tenderness.

“Sounds great,” she said. “Let’s go.”

“You won’t get in trouble for sneaking away from work, will you?” His tone was teasing and she responded with a lighthearted chuckle.

“Are you kidding? Travis is always complaining that I spend too many hours out here, and that by comparison I make him look like a lazy bum.”

They strolled toward his car. “I’m amazed at the number of changes that have been made to this place since I was last here.”

She gave his arm a gentle tap with her fist. “All that shows is that you haven’t been visiting often enough. I figured that once you’d moved to Big D, you didn’t have time for us country yokels.”

“That’s not true. I’ve just been really busy.”

“Doing what? You used to talk about working for your father after graduation. Is that what you’re doing?”

“In a sense. I pilot one of the company planes whenever they’re shorthanded. I guess you would call me a troubleshooter. I fill in wherever I’m needed.”

Maribeth stopped in her tracks. “You’re a pilot? I never knew that!”

“Yeah. I started taking lessons as a teenager while I spent my summers in Dallas with my dad.”

“You never said a word about it.”

“It wasn’t something to be tossed into a conversation.”

“But it was something you were interested in, something obviously important to you. I remember you would listen to me when I was going on about all my pet projects whenever we got back together after summer vacations. But you never said a word.”

“It was no big deal, Maribeth. Really.”

She just shook her head. “Sometimes I think you work at being a mystery man.”

“What are you talking about?”

“You know. I remember in school how all the girls acted around you. You’d come back each year with this big-city polish, rarely talking to anyone, and never about yourself. It used to drive us crazy.”

He laughed. “Well. Now you know one of my deep, dark secrets. I was spending summer vacations playing up in the clouds. Feel better now?”

They had paused by his tomato red sports car. He leaned past her and opened the passenger door. She got a whiff of after-shave that brought back even stronger memories of the young man she used to know. She’d always liked that particular scent. When she’d asked him about it once, he said it was a gift from his father one year and he’d used it ever since. It smelled expensive, woodsy, and infinitely male.